Seren - 237 - 2013/14 - February Issue by Seren

Bangor University Students’ Union English Language Newspaper

February 2014 Issue No. 237 FREE

@SerenBangor

Seren.Bangor.ac.uk - SOCIETY OF THE YEAR 2013 -

SEREN BRINGS BACK THE 90S

INTERVIEW: CERYS MATHEWS

TRAVEL WITH BANGOR

The New Normal

£30 million development complex to rejuvenate St.Mary’s site 600 room residential site will replace Normal Site halls

by BECKI WATSON

angor University is set to build a £30 million housing development that will transform the disused St. Mary’s halls into a new student residential site. In response to growing demand from second and third year students who wish to move into university halls of residence, the development will

refurbish some of the older buildings on the site in addition to constructing new ones. Speaking to Seren about the project, Pro-Vice Chancellor Carol Tully talked about the reasons why the university have decided to create more student accommodation: ‘Every year we get a lot more applications from second and third year students who want to come back into halls than we can accommodate, as we guarantee every first year a place, so already a

large proportion of the halls are taken, and there’s also post-grads and people with special needs who need the rooms. So once you’ve accommodated all of those people, there’s only about 100-150 rooms left for returning students.’ The new site will have 600 new rooms, incorporating many different types of accommodation with a focus on student community. The original Victorian and Edwardian buildings

will be refurbished with common rooms and large kitchens, and every block will have their own social areas for students to meet. Thesite will primarily feature two different types of buildings; a townhouse style of building, which will benefit returning students as they will have the opportunity to apply for flats in groups of 6 or 8, and more traditional blocks of student accommodation. Bryn Eithin, which has been isolated from

other halls of residence over recent times, will also be adapted into the complex. Facilities at the site will include a cafe bar, an outdoor sports facility, a gym with the same specifications as Maes Glas, and a shuttle bus service and electric bike scheme as part of the university’s commitment to sustainable travel. Continued on page 5

February Issue 2014 | Seren

CONTENTS 36

BECKI WATSON EDITOR editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk

News Comment Politics Science Environment Interview Union Societies 90’s Night TV Film Music Books Fashion Health & Beauty Arts & Culture Games Food Travel Breaktime Sport

THE

Becki Watson Nicola Hoban Becci Jameson Ali Keshtmand Charlotte Parker Will Johnson Edwin Pynegar Sinnead Towey Megan Townsend Sara Williams Emily HoulstonJones

4-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18-19 20 22-23 24-25 26-27 28-29 30-31 32-33 34-35 36-37 38-39 40-41 42-43 44 45-48

Food TV Film Music Books Fashion Treasurer Travel Sport Design

14 27

It’s that time of year again... Seren are bringing back the 90s! For the sixth year in a row, Seren are putting on 90s Night at Academi, a night celebrating the best decade there is. One of the biggest nights in Bangor, you don’t want to miss out! Plus, this year we’ve collaborated with Bangor’s fancy dress shops to get you a discount on your costume, so you have no excuse not to dress up! To find out more, have a look at page 23 for more details, or check our Facebook page for the latest info. In celebration of 90s Night, you’ll find many of our sections this issue remembering the best of the 90s, from tips on how to get the perfect 90s look in Health and Beauty (gotta love that glitter eyeshadow), to the films, books, music and TV we adore from our childhood. Aside from all the 90s mania, we have all the information you need to know ahead of the Sabbatical Elections in our Union pages, and on Comment, we take a closer look at the latest drinking craze to sweep the nation: NekNomination. The team have really put their all into this issue, and I couldn’t be prouder of how it has turned out. If you like what you see and want to get involved, we always welcome new members! For more information, email us at editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk to find out how you can be a part of our team. Similarly, if you really can’t wait for 90s Night and fancy helping us out with the organisation, let us know. We’d love the help; bringing back the 90s is no easy task! I hope you enjoy the issue, and I’ll see you at 90s Night!

#Bangor90s

TEAM

Harriet Weller Ida Vaisanen Jack Nicol Tom Bickerdike Amy Blackwell James Holman Luke James Barrett Steph Yeabsley Kevin Griffin LJ Taylor

The views presented hereinafter do not represent the views of Seren Bangor, Bangor Students’ Union or Bangor University. Seren is printed by NWN Media.

CONTRIBUTORS

Editor Deputy: Content Deputy: Design Secretary News Environment Science Comment Arts and Culture Health & Beauty Politics

Callum Hulme Tamara Ansah Peter Clarke Gemma Simmons Alison Cross Chris Glass Al Hulley

Heather Boyles Charlotte Faye Wright Wyatt Warner Ailish Bumpus Tom Emlyn Williams Eleanor Hirst Matt Cox

Scott Willey Harriet Weller Joe Keep Tom Shelton Andy Wells Felicity Walker Aled Meredith

Seren | February Issue 2014

NEWS

In Brief Bangor wins £500k grant for new facility

Bangor student film is BBC Fresh

THE School of Electronic Engineering at Bangor University has been awarded a £500k grant to create a unique new facility. The Centre for Lifetime and Reliability Testing (CLARET) will be the first of its kind in Wales and will enable businesses to test a huge range of plastic electronics, space-related equipment and solar cells. Glyn Farger, the Business Development Manager for the Claret project, said: “The new CLARET Laboratories will support high-level research at the School as well as allowing the School to work with local businesses on research and development for new and exciting plastic electronics.”

Pontio selects first artist-inresidence INTERNATIONALLY renowned artist Bedwyr Williams has been chosen as Pontio’s first artist-in-residence. He is expected to begin work this month by exploring Bangor University’s collections, including the ‘Crossley-Holland’ collection of over 900 world music instruments, and the university’s Natural History museum. Bedwyr’s previous work often merges art and life with an ‘idiosyncratic’ twist that is instantaneously sympathetic and relatable. He recently represented Wales at the Venice Bienale 2013 in which he explored themes of the microscopic and the astronomic. The Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre will open in September 2014.

Local AM visits Rhyl work programme WELSH Assembly Member Mark Isherwood returned to Rhyl offices of public services provider A4e to hear how the UK Government’s Work Programme is gaining momentum and supporting more and more people into employment. Speaking to jobseekers and staff, the Welsh Conservative member for North Wales was interested to hear how the back-to-work scheme had progressed since his first visit in September 2012. After the visit, the AM said: “It was great to visit the A4e team in their new Rhyl premises and to see how the performance of the Work Programme in our region is getting stronger and stronger”.

Media student film is a ‘fresh documentary feature’ Film provides insight into student’s personal struggles

by CHARLOTTE PARKER

news@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Bangor student has had the chance to show their work on BBC Fresh. Phil Coleman, a Media and Film Studies student, has made a documentary exploring the difficulties of suffering with anxiety attacks. The ‘fresh documentary feature’ shows everyday tasks that become challenging and problematic, when suffering from this condition.

The inspiration behind this film idea came from the struggles Phil has experienced regularly in his adult life. With no previous documentaries highlighting this topic, there was a clear niche audience here that would benefit from any information available. Opportunities arose on the Media course than enabled Phil to be able to make this possible. Not only was this a great chance to build on his degree, but it also led him to be able to confront his demons whilst possibly helping others at the same time. Anxiety is a feeling of fear and worry that can onset suddenly. It affects around one in ten people and may be inherited through our genes. Most people, who suffer from any form of anxiety, won’t seek out medical advice

as they feel embarrassed, with many medics branding the symptoms as those of stress, despite being two very different conditions. Phil spoke about why he chose to do such a personal story of his life. “I’ve been studying Media and Film since college, so making my own documentary is something that I’ve been asked to do in my course often. Mostly, I enjoy making fictional short films; however, it felt like the right time to do a documentary about my anxiety problem.” BBC Fresh TV and Online is specially designed to give new directors a chance to air a one-hour documentary. Aimed at people who show an interest in this field, this development gives people an opportunity that they

may not otherwise get. It is easy to submit your work, however not all are chosen to be shown online. “When the BBC phoned, I initially missed the call. However, I noticed I had a voice mail. I was very shocked! I wasn’t sure at all if I would get in, so when I found out I did, I was overjoyed. “It’s a great sense of achievement and rehabilitation for me to know that people are watching and relating to my film, I feel like I’ve done something good. People keep telling me how much they have related to it and I’m so glad that they could connect to my film in that way. It’s a very special feeling”.

Vice Chancellor Professor John G Hughes said: “I am delighted that Bangor’s demonstrated commitment to taking positive action in promoting sustainability and achieving continual environmental improvement is achieving international recognition”. Bangor was recently named the “greenest” university in Wales in the 2013 UK People and Planet Green League. Ricky Carter, Environmental Manager in the Estates and Facilities Department said: “”We are making great progress, and this latest news is extremely encouraging as we seek to achieve the internationally recognised ISO14001 Standard for our Environmental Management System later this

year.” The university also has a new sustainability policy, as well as being involved in a broad range of research and development projects with industry concentrating on the three pillars of sustainability – People, Planet and Prosperity. Dr Einir Young, head of Sustainable Development at Bangor University had this to say: “Our efforts in driving environmental improvements and resource efficiencies throughout the organisation are really beginning to show dividends. However, we are aware that this is just one aspect of the sustainable development agenda. Under the new sustainability policy we are now focusing our efforts on

integrating sustainable practice into everything we do, through our research, our teaching and our own supply chain.” The Students’ Union has reached the final of The Ecologist Green Impact Communications Challenge Award with a film about the creation of a “One Minute Garden” at Ffriddoedd site - many of the Students’ Union clubs and societies took part. The competition features Students’ Unions from across the UK performing “ecostunts” and filming them, to encourage sustainability initiatives. Bangor’s Students’ Union is a previous winner of The Ecologist Prize.

Bangor reach top 20 in international eco management league by TOM BICKERDIKE

music@seren.bangor.ac.uk

angor University has been placed within the top 20 in an international league table of sustainability. It has reached 19th place in a league featuring 301 universities from 61 countries. This initiative was launched by Universitas Indonesia in 2010, to highlight sustainability and environmental management.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

NEWS

In Brief Man airlifted after 50ft drop

Buildings on the St.Mary’s site that are scheduled to be demolished or refurbished Photos by LJ Taylor

The New Normal Continued

he development of the St. Mary’s site will lead to the closure of the Normal Site Halls which, despite the close student community, are not to the same standard as the other accommodation available at Bangor. However, despite the likely demolition of the Halls on Normal Site, Professor Tully remains optimistic that Normal Site will remain a hub of student activity, as the facilities such as the sports hall and the library will most likely remain there to support the schools of Education and Sports Science. In fact, Professor Tully hopes

that the additional space created on the site will lead to the expansion of student facilities, such as more training space for the Athletics Union, in addition to the facilities that will be created on the St. Mary’s site. It is also hoped that the creation of a new student residential site will ease local concerns over student housing in the city. Most recently, a local resident group aired concerns that the city was tuning into a ‘student ghetto’, and planning permission for a housing development on the old Jewson site was refused by Bangor City Council on the grounds of overdevelopment.

However, local councillors have appeared positive about the new project; Cllr Gwynfor Edwards, who represents the Deiniol ward, said: ‘It’s a purpose built site and any development like this needs to take place on a brownfield site. It will be similar to places like Swansea and Aberystwyth, which have student villages, and it will help free houses in the city for Bangor residents.’ Professor Tully has also stated that the building contractors are keen to bring benefits to the local community as well as students: ‘One of the good things about the company we’re working with is that they’re re-

ally committed to giving an added value to the project as well, so there will be things like student placements, internships, not just for ourselves, but for Coleg Menai and other schools in the area.’ Providing that planning permission is granted by the council at the end of March, Professor Tully hopes for work to begin this spring with the demolition of buildings that are not being kept on, with the contractors aiming to complete the halls development for the new intake of students in September 2015.

Inquest held into Menai jump death

“Bright and artistic”, Pauline was diagnosed with schizophrenia

by TOM BICKERDIKE

music@seren.bangor.ac.uk

n inquest at Caernarfon has heard how a teenager killed herself after falling 100ft from the Menai Suspension Bridge. Pauline Swatridge, 15, from Felinheli, was described as “bright and artistic”, but was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her parents described her

short life as “well-lived, filled with laughter, mischief, artistic creation and caring for others”. Pauline’s body was noticed by a Bangor University student on a rocky island at the base of the bridge during late afternoon on May 20 last year. Miriam Unterhuber was walking across the bridge with her boyfriend, when she noticed a brightly coloured, patterned bag, a pair of boots and a jacket on the ground. She looked over the railings and saw the body below, before running to the Tafarn y Bont in Menai Bridge to contact the police. Pauline is believed to have sustained multiple injuries and would have been

killed almost instantaneous. Police joined members of the coastguards and paramedics on the rocks and the body was airlifted to Ysbyty Gwynedd. Pathologist Dr Mark Lord told the inquest that blood tests revealed she had taken a variety of drugs prescribed by doctors. However, he added that the results were not altogether accurate and should not be interpreted that she had taken an overdose. Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones told the hearing: “Unfortunately I have had many deaths in that locality. The barriers are so it’s almost impossible for anyone to accidentally fall over them. My belief is this young lady climbed

over the barrier and fell to her death.” He was aware of the fact she left a note and indicated she might have harmed herself. However, he added: “It is difficult to ascertain the intention of those who have mental health issues and I prefer to steer away from speculating what was in this young lady’s mind.” Pauline’s friends and family have honoured her memory by hosting a celebration of her life as well as her work at Hendre Hall. On show were a selection of her artwork and short films; there were also performances from musical groups she admired or was involved with.

A MAN fell 50ft whilst scrambling on Tryfan, injuring his leg. Chris Lloyd of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation said that the man was “well-equipped and wearing a helmet”. He added: “It’s possible he knocked himself out, but he was able to call 999 after he came to”. Twelve members of the Ogwen team, along with 10 members of the RAF’s mountain rescue team, went to the man’s aid. He was airlifted to hospital, but only after the RAF search and rescue helicopter attended to another incident on Snowdon. Mr Lloyd described the weather as “reasonable”, but “a bit greasy underfoot”.

Police investigate Amlwch car vandalism POLICE have launched an investigation after four vehicles were damaged in Amlwch. This includes scratched paintwork on doors and wings of vehicles parked on Mona Street. One vehicle was damaged between 11.40pm on 17th January and 9.30am on 18th January. The three others were damaged between 11.15pm on 18th January and 9am on 19th January. Anyone with any information is advised to call PCSO Gwyn Rowlands at Amlwch Police Station on 101. Alternatively, they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Celebrity chef bistro gets go ahead COUNCIL officials have confirmed plans for the opening of a bistro in Colwyn Bay will go ahead. Celebrity chef Bryn Williams announced he was going to open a bistro at the new Porth Eirias water sports centre last September. However, legal issues have delayed the opening for the last 5 months. Mr Williams, from Denbigh, said: “I didn’t want to go through my whole career and not cook in Wales. I left when I was 20 and I haven’t cooked here since. For me it would be a shame if I didn’t cook back in Wales.” He also owns a restaurant in Primrose Hill, London.

Seren | February Issue 2014

NEWS

Welsh weather warning

In Brief Police appeal for witnesses to armed robbery POLICE are appealing for witnesses after two men carried out an armed robbery at a shop in Kinmel Bay. They entered Lifestyle Express on Towyn Road, just before 8pm on 3rd February and took a large amount of money from the till. Afterwards, they are believed to have travelled down Dinas Brown Avenue. Police have released a description of the two men. The first is described as having a tall, large build and was wearing a hooded top and jeans; the second man is described as having a medium build and was also wearing a hoodie and jeans.

Green Grass of Home welcomes legend FOR the first time in his career, Tom Jones will be performing in North Wales. The Welshman will return to his homeland this summer for his first outdoor concert in the area, after almost a decade since his last performance in his home town of Pontypridd. Sir Tom, who is now based in Los Angeles, is delighted to be headlining at the Access All Eirias Concert in Colwyn Bay on 25th July. “Coming back to Wales to perform is always a treat, and in the fantastic location of Eirias Stadium we’re going to put on a hell of a show.” The star, who has recently appeared back on our screens in the new series of The Voice, last performed a gig in Wales in 2005 in front of 20,000 fans in Pontypridd to celebrate his 65th birthday.

Lord of the Manor drops Anglesey land claim THE Lord of the Manor of Treffos on Anglesey, a businessman named Stephen Hayes, has dropped a 10,500 acre land claim that had previously left homeowners concerned. After writing to 4000 Anglesey residents to tell of the fact that he had registered his rights, Hayes retracted his claim, saying it was worthless and he had been falsely led to think otherwise. This relieved many residents who were concerned that house sales, loans and mortgages would be restricted and that the claim might lead to drilling for shale gas on their land. Among those relieved were the 800 people who attended a meeting on the subject on 3th February.

More homes damaged as storms set in once again Welsh residents warned to prepare for more flooding and strong winds Natural Resources Wales advises people to stay away from coastlines

by CHARLOTTE PARKER

news@seren.bangor.ac.uk

orth Wales is being told to prepare for more flooding over the next couple of weeks. Severe floods left devastating disruption at the beginning of the year, damaging homes and the coastline. 40 flood warnings have been issued by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), for the first two weeks of February. The current warnings are amber- meaning ‘be prepared’ for flooding. Many coastal communities have begun preparing for the worst by boarding up windows and doors as well as laying sandbags. Many residents have

also evacuated their seafront homes. Winds of up to 70mph have been predicted by the Met Office, particularly in the exposed western areas of North Wales. Large waves have been crashing the coastlines causing disruption on the roads. Residents have been warned of the combination of strong winds and high tides, and have been advised to stay away from the coast as well as promenades. An NRW Spokesman said: “People are strongly advised to stay clear of promenades and sea fronts as they could be swept away by large waves or hit by debris”. Conwy experienced the highest recorded waves on Saturday 1st February, measuring in at 8.8 metres. Anglesey also suffered from the high tides with Trearddur Bay being measured at 5.9 metres. Natural Resources Wales has warned

that the next couple of weeks could bring even more misery as high tides will continue to pose a risk of flooding to many areas. Prestatyn has been hit worst with flood barriers being demolished by high waves. Most of the coastal path has been cordoned off for safety reasons. Mid Wales has also suffered over the last month with Aberystwyth being left in misery. Over 600 students have left their seafront homes and are currently living in alternative accommodation. Along with the heavy storms that are expected, snow has also been suggested for some areas. Bangor, Betws-yCoed, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno are just some of the areas that were forecast to have snow over the last week. After a number of road incidents, drivers are being warned to take time on their journeys and to keep up to

date with the weather and traffic news. Businessman George Clarke travelled to Bangor from Cheshire on Friday 31st January and encountered treacherous road conditions. “The wind was howling against the car as I travelled along the A55. The constant rain made for poor visibility, making the journey longer and relatively unsafe.” Snowdonia National Park officers have been joining forces with Natural Resources Wales to drop sand bags off in different towns across the coastline. Football also suffered from the wet weekend. Colwyn Bay’s game against Harrogate and Airbus’ game against Bangor were both postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Due to the severity of damage Prestatyn endured, their football team’s game against Chester was also called off.

Return for Bangor pleasure boats Boat trip service hoped to be finished and ready for the summer

by CHARLOTTE PARKER

news@seren.bangor.ac.uk

angor could be seeing the return of Pleasure Boat Trips this year. Gwynedd Councillor Nigel Pickavance stated that a company has come forward in order to hopefully start boat trips again this summer. The

company remain unnamed at this point. He spoke of how he has had meetings with the company owners and they are very eager to come to Bangor to begin plans with Barry Davies, Gwynedd Council’s Maritime Manager. “We need to do everything we can to make this happen; let’s get boat trips going from Bangor this year”. He added: “It’s something where everyone needs to work together as a community to try to do everything we can to get this there”. The Marchog Ward Ccuncillor added that the boat service could be situ-

ated at Bangor’s pier if the structure was upgraded. Councillor John Wynne Jones was the chair of Bangor City Council in 2011, and at this time he estimated the refurbishing of the pier would cost around £2 million. He said: “As it is now, we all walked upon it and we all think that it’s fine and great but underneath that structure is eroding. We’ve got to paint it and give it some corrosion protection”. When the pier was refurbished in the 1980’s, no maintenance plan was devised for the future years. Jess Hazley, student at Bangor Uni-

versity, thinks there will be mixed reviews about these proposed trips. “Boat trips in the summer would be a good idea, a nice day out for the local residents and could bring some money into the area. However with Bangor being heavily populated by students, I’m not sure many of them would like the idea. The price would have to be reasonable and the destinations would need to be appealing.” As of yet there are plans for immediate renovations to take place. The boat trips will not take place until these reports have been seen, and a public consultation will then be launched.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

NEWS

Headlines from the

1992 1990

Mandela Released 11th February

AFTER 27 years in prison, AntiApartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela has been freed. His release came after the relaxation of apartheid laws that included lifting the ban on leading black rights party the African National Congress.

1991

Maggie Resigns 2nd November

WWW 7th August

MARGARET Thatcher confirms that she will be standing down as Prime Minister. Her Cabinet refused the backing in her second round of leadership elections.

AFTER two years of developed proposals, August ‘91 saw one of the biggest technological developments of all time. The World Wide Web was created by Tim Berners-Lee in order to interconnect computer networks.

1993 Good Morning 1st January EAMONN Holmes and Anne Davies came into our homes for the first time this year. GMTV was aired for the first time. Despite losing over 2 million viewers in the first 6 weeks of broadcasting, the show lasted seventeen years and was presented by over 100 presenters.

Ghetto Gospel Star Shot 13th September

RAPPER and actor Tupac Amaru Shakur was a victim in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. After suffering gun shot wounds to his hand, thigh, pelvis and chest, he died due to internal bleeding

EURO Disney Resort opened its doors for the first time this year. Now known as Disneyland Paris, this resort is the most visited in Europe, and is home to two theme parks, thirteen hotels, a golf course and a railway station.

AFTER being heavily covered in the media, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s marriage is over. The couple have agreed to part ways amicably.

1995

Death of an Icon 8th April

Power Up 28th August RED, Black, Yellow, Pink and Blue were the favourite colours of many children in 1993. The Power Rangers appeared on our screens for 8 years showing 20 seasons of 17 different themed stories and two theatrical films.

Tony at Number 10 2nd May FOLLOWING a landslide of winning votes, Tony Blair becomes the new Prime Minister of the UK. The Labour Leader was the youngest Prime Minister since the early 1800’s. Blair went on to be the Labour Party’s longest serving Prime Minister, holding the position for ten years.

NIRVANA frontman Kurt Cobain commits suicide. After a number of attempts to take his own life, Cobain’s body was found with a gunshot wound to the head. He was aged 27.

1999

They’ll Always Be There For You 22nd September WITH 236 episodes and over 52 million viewers tuning in to see the final episode, Friends really has become a television phenomenon. Set over ten series, these 6 characters were well known in every household throughout the 90’s.

Ctrl, Alt, Create 24th August FOUR years after the creation of the World Wide Web, another revolutionary improvement was made. Windows 95 was the latest edition to the Microsoft Family. This development brought computer users accessibility to many new features including the famous ‘start’ button.

1998

A Nation In Mourning 31st August LADY Diana dies due to injuries she sustained in a car crash that took place in Paris. The previous Royal Family was in her car, when the driver lost control in the Pont De L’Alma tunnel and ploughed into a wall. Diana later died of her injuries.

The Millennium Bug 31st December

What If I Told You... 31st March

ON this day, one of the highest grossing sci-fi films of all time was released. The Matrix was so successful, a video game and 2 sequels were released, and even now fans are trying to persuade writers and directors for a fourth instalment.

Royal Divide 19th March

1994

1997

1996

Disney Delight 12th April

ONE of the biggest scares in the technological world had to be the Y2K scare. This shocked the world when switching over to the new millennium could be a possible issue for all technological pieces of equipment as they were expected to all reset themselves causing uproar amongst users. Companies and organisations had to spend billions of dollars on upgrading their systems and changing their codes so they could fit the new millennium in amongst their dates and calendar systems.

Sinking Ship Shatters Sales 1st March AFTER being released in 1997, Titanic broke all Box Office records. Upon its release in March, Titanic became the first film to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. On the weekend of April 13th -15th 2012, the film was re-released in 3D. It then became the second film to cross the $2 billion threshold during its 3D release.

Prepare for the Potter 30th June THE wizarding word sets to put all fans under its spell. ‘Harry Potter the Philosophers Stone’ was released on this date and tipped to be one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time. To be followed by various sequels and a very successful film franchise.

by CHARLOTTE PARKER news@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Seren | February Issue 2014

COMMENT

Bangor, you have been #Nek-nominated

by SINNEAD TOWEY

integration. However, I personally do not condone the current manor of excessive drinking, as there are so few rules it is easy for people to take the activity well out of hand. As my view on drinking relates to this extremely well, I appreciate the activity of drinking and neknominate, however the excessive drinking does cause for concern for the safety and health of my members.” Captain of the men’s swimming team, James Holman has said, “Following the deaths of two people due to neknomination, people should really consider the health implications of this activity. Particularly sports men and women who should already be aware of the health an implication drinking involves.”

he new student drinking game which has taken two lives has reached Bangor. The new phase is made up of people filming themselves while doing ridiculous stunts and downing a drink, uploading the film onto social media, and then nominating other people to “out stage” their attempt and continue the game. The “neknominate” craze, also known as “neck and nominate” is thought to have originated in Perth, but thanks to social media it has since gone global. Some of the most concerning clips which have been posted to the viral Facebook group include a man downing a beer, nailing his testicles to a table and then downing another beer. There have also been clips of people eating animals in order to out stage the people who nominated them. One attempt shows a male from South Wales, drinking a beer before eating a “1 day old baby chick” and then drinking half a litre of vodka. In Ireland, two young men have died due to the new drinking craze. The body of the youngest victim, named as 19-year-old Jonny Byrne, was recovered from the river at Milford Bridge in County Carlow. According to reports on social media, he died after jumping into a river after downing a drink, as part of a nomination. Ross Cummins, 22, was found unconscious in a house in Dublin in the early hours of Saturday morning; his death is also believed to be as a result of neknominate. Annie Ryan, a law student at UCD has said; “It’s really crazy over here in Ireland we are all getting seriously sick trying to better one another. There was a student the other day that drank a pint of WD40 and so to better him a lad mixed petrol with beer! It’s ridiculous.”

THE UNION ON NEKNOMINATIONS “Nobody likes to be the kill joy of the latest craze, and there is certainly an element of choice involved, choice to take part, choice in the amount of risk you take. What people need to remember is it’s not always the consumption of alcohol that is the problem. Sometimes it’s the effects and how what you’ve consumed can impair your judgement on what you do next. We recommend that you steer clear and we certainly don’t want to see our clubs and societies taking part. Stay safe,” said the head of Societies & Community Ash Kierans.

#RAKnominations

“NEKNOMINATIONS” IN BANGOR There have been a few neknominate videos that have surfaced among some of the sports teams here in Bangor, but thankfully not of an extreme or dangerous nature. The videos have mostly shown individuals drinking a pint of a desired cocktail, but not participating in any harmful activities whilst doing so. There have been mixed views here in Bangor among students. Some students believe that the behaviour reflects negatively not only on the person involved and the University of the Student, but it also reflects on the national identity of the participants. “I think this neknomination, or whatever it is called is bloody ridiculous and it may just reinforce a reputation abroad of the British and Irish that they both drink to excess and with excesses attached.” said Reece Lloyd, French and German with Italian student here at Bangor. On the other hand some student here at the university believes that neknominations, in the right context, can be used as harmless fun. “Neknominations, despite their disadvantages, are a great way to start some pre-drinks! I think it’s a funny pass time, especially seeing your friends

doing the dirtiest pints possible to outdo each other. But once you are nominated unexpectedly, you do experience that ‘Oh no’ feeling, but it’s great fun and personally, as a third year, it is a funny distraction from the mountain of work I have!” said third year student Kevin Griffin.

SPORTS TEAMS ON NEKNOMINATIONS The captain of the women’s rugby team, Iona

Todd has said, “Like most things, moderation is key. I have heard some terrible stories of neknominations and I would never condone drinking to a harmful extent or participating in any of the dangerous activities that some people have. However, I have also seen examples of neknominations being nothing more than a bit of friendly fun amongst friends.” Olie Racey, captain of the men’s hockey team has also commented on the new craze. “My thoughts on neknominate are mixed; the social cohesion that it brings is a positive to the social aspect to the club which does give better team

After hearing about the death of two people due to the new drinking activity, a South African male has altered his version of the trend by posting an alternative approach online. In his video, the male drives around a poverty stricken area, at a set of traffic lights, a homeless man approaches in attempt to clean the vehicle for money. The South African male winds down his window and hands the homeless man a sandwich, a chocolate bar and a bottle of coke. This “random act of kindness” has also gone viral with thousands of people replicating the act and posting the videos online. The fact of the matter is, as long as people have the technology available to them , individuals will choose to post what they wish. I’m sure the thuggish and animalistic behaviour shown by some will unfortunately carry on, no matter how many deaths have taken place. I also think that some decent people will use these neknominations in the “banterous” way they were intended to originally portray. Drinking is a huge part of many students’ lives and will stay that way no matter the opinions of others. It was only a matter of time before the binge drinking nature of students made it onto social networking sites. RAKnominations are a great idea. People shouldn’t really need self-recognition for random acts of kindness but none the less, it is working as a pro-active counterpart to some of the childish and dangerous forms on neknominations that are happening at this moment in time.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

Train Prices Not Fare

COMMENT

Ida is an international student working in liasion with the international office . Every issue she’ll write about her experiences in Bangor.

by CALLUM HULME

very year we find ourselves reading what feels like the same news story, reworded or rehashed, about the increase in train fares and ticket prices. The annual rise sees our train fares increase at an average of 3% a year, with January of 2014 seeing an increase of 2.8%; the smallest increase for four years. Campaigners are still in protest to the increases, as the rises do not fall in line with the annual wage growth of 0.7% - leaving honest workers increasingly out of pocket when it comes to their commute expenses. Where does this leave us as students, then? Many people at University can’t juggle their studies and a job at the same time, and with the student maintenance loans not increasing to accommodate the rising cost of student living, many of us will be increasingly put off from rail travel altogether. In Bangor’s case, it’s not so much that many

people can’t juggle studies and a job – it’s that there are simply so few jobs available in relation to the number of students here. Students are more reluctant to spend, especially on overpriced train tickets, if they know they would rather invest in necessities and vital living costs. I have had a few horror stories of my own when it comes to rail travel, as I’m sure many of you have. The rail companies use the excuse of constant annual rises in fares as a way to, ‘protect current levels of reinvestment in the transport network, delivering greater capacity and more reliable services.’ Over the summer, I had to commute to Manchester in order to work every day. I wish I could say that the trains were reliable, but they were far from it. More often than not, I found my train not arriving at all, never mind late. If their services are still this unreliable after years of fare rises and supposed ‘reinvestment’ then what exactly are they investing our money into? New carpets? So that when we’re forced to

stand on a train for hours because they didn’t include enough carriages on a notoriously busy train line, we can at least be a bit more comfortable, perhaps? Or maybe fancy new pre-recorded messages apologising for constant delays and late arrivals? Recently I found my attempt to book a train ticket, to see my sister for her birthday, shot down. Thetrainline.com wanted £68 for an open return – almost a quarter of my remaining student loan – just to see her for the weekend. Trips home, at around £38, are also out of the question, and trips to the local cinema, which comes to almost £7 on the train, are few and far between. Continuous rises in rail fares could see universities like Bangor isolated and with very little to do without travelling further afield. This could result in losing potential university applicants as they may take into account unfair rises in rail costs, the lack of employment opportunities and an increasingly meagre maintenance loan.

So actually, I end up getting real bummed out when I see a good idea through a Facebook trend, because if anything, it just makes it all the more certain that it’s going to be forgotten soon. People will shoot it up, then go look for a hit somewhere else; case in point for this art ting. It’s nice to see on Facebook, and it’s nice to feel sophisticated by sharing some art, but it’s not very… real is it? It’s just people taking advantage of a trend to seem more interesting. Kind of like enjoying The Smiths; nobody actually likes The

Smiths (just kidding (maybe)). Now, you aren’t a pleb if you don’t like art. Too many people get a superiority complex at the “museum goer” image they give. They’re not. But I think art can be special to people, if introduced the right way. So if you want to see whether you are in fact into art, beyond the IDEA of being into art, go into a museum and look at some paintings, ‘appreciating’ (or not) whatever you want about them. Feel really good? Do it more! Feel bad? Don’t beat yourself up.

Faceb o ok, and this Ar t Thing by ALI KESHTMAND

’m not a fan of this art sharing trend... but I like art. Maybe I’m cynical, but I’m of the firm belief that Facebook trends that aim to make big changes rarely (never) work. Even KONY 2012, with its awesome marketing campaign, was promptly forgotten for Gangnam style, the Olympics, the anniversary of Zyzz’s death, etc.

V- Inspire d

by TAMARA ANSAH

eam V is a national volunteer leadership programme, which is delivered by a youth volunteering charity called V Inspired. The Aim for Team V leaders is to spend time helping other young people engage in campaigns in their communities and campaign on a wide range of social issues. Team v’s latest campaign, ‘Love is..?’, harnesses a network of six hundred young people to aiming put young adult relationships under the spotlight. We all have a right to supportive, healthy and fulfilling relationships; yet nearly 75% of girls and nearly 50% of boys have reported some sort of emotional partner abuse and a staggering 81% of all young adults experiencing abuse never access support. High profile campaigns have been set up, such as the Home Office’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign. The campaign has provided a shocking reminder that anyone can find themselves in an abusive relationship, yet many people are una

ware of the signs of being in one and are unaware of where they can access help. As an inspiring youth movement Team V will focus on positive actions to facilitate local discussions. This February, the month of love, Team V leaders will organise pop-up events across the country encouraging young people aged 16-25 to reflect on what makes a healthy relationship and inform people on how to access support if needed, giving them the confidence to make the best decisions for themselves and those closest to them. Our aim is to have around 100+ pop-up events taking place all on one day, Saturday 15th February, engaging with thousands of young people and feeding into a social media campaign to create an online buzz, putting healthy relationships on the agenda. This includes an event here in Bangor! To stay up to date with promotions leading up to the 15th & the event, like & follow your local team V social media pages!

https://www.facebook.com/TeamVBangor https://twitter.com/TeamvBangor

Foreign Interests

s Valentine’s day approaches, I’d like to raise an issue many people face while studying abroad. I, like many others, am dating a foreigner. My boyfriend is an American. When people think about people from different nations dating, it doesn’t seem too complicated. In my case the cultural differences between me and my boyfriend are not that major. Finland even has a nickname ‘Little America’. Still dating a person from another country is more complex than it first appears. It’s not until then you understand that you don’t really date a person as much as their entire culture. People enter a relationship as a representative of their own personal background, which includes things like values and beliefs. When two people from the same country are in a relationship, you could claim that they share a culture and language if not the accent, despite their differences in other things. When people from different countries date, you become aware of the effect your cultural environment has on things you never expected. Even though my boyfriend and I grew up in quite similar environments in our respective countries, we face differences every day. In terms of socializing, my boyfriend is very American. He talks to everyone and makes friends easily. Like a true Finn, I feel my personal space violated when a stranger even glances at me. When my boyfriend pays me a compliment, my first reaction is to belittle. Oh, this old thing? Despite our many similarities we still represent the polar opposites in the classic subjects of gun ownership and taxation. Luckily those things are very trivial. Even though I admit my life would be easier if my boyfriend spoke Finnish, the fact that you learn about the other person’s culture as well as the person himself every day definitely enriches my life. His country is massive and outspoken and mine is small and silent but luckily we still fit under the same roof. Were you born to be on stage? One World day approaches and people from different cultures (including British!) are welcomed to come and share their talent. One World Day celebrates the university’s cultural richness and it’s open to all Bangor students/staff, as well as the local community. Audition is held on 5pm at Wednesday 12th February at Rathbone Hall. If you can’t make that day, don’t worry. You can still drop in on one of the rehearsals. For more information please email internationalsupport@bangor.ac.uk, check the International Student Support website or ring 01248 388430.

Seren | February Issue 2014

POLITICS

In Brief Sixth Form Colleges Funding “Slashed” JAMES Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, expressed fears after presenting a survey published this week which highlighted current cuts to post-16 education funding - mentioning that it would lead to an educational “road-to-nowhere.” 48% of Sixth Form colleges have cut courses, and 78% have had to cut staffing. These cuts came after the government spent £62m establishing nine new free schools, which between them enrol just 1,557 pupils. The survey was released prior to Education Minister Michael Gove’s speech at The London Academy of Excellence on the 3rd February, in which he said that he intended to tear down the “Berlin Wall” between state and private education in England.

Pubs may stay open for World Cup, PM Says IN a post on Twitter, David Cameron stated that there is to be an official “rethink” regarding licensing permissions for pubs ahead of the 2014 World Cup. He intervened just days after Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker said that pubs will not be granted permission to stay open late to televise England’s World Cup, a decision which lead to widespread outrage among England fans and pub proprietors alike. A nationwide consultation - involving pub tradesmen, police forces and local councils - is set to be held in the near future, though exact dates have yet to be confirmed. At least one England match will not kick-off until 11pm, and more late matches may be on the cards, depending on England’s World Cup performance.

Peers Reject Compulsory Sex Education THE House of Lords voted against a law set to introduce compulsory sex education in schools as a foundation subject with 142 voting in favour of the change and 290 voting against. The legislation, which would have affected English state schools, was set to replace current sex education with a more all-encompassing curriculum, which would include information ranging from the importance of consent to same-sex relationships, as opposed to the current model of sex education in the UK, which focuses mainly on pregnancy and STI prevention.

In Defense of Striking Educators by PETER CLARKE

few weeks back, a group of history students at Warwick University organised their own lectures in response to their temporarily absent tutors, who were on strike for a few lectures. Teachers at Warwick were on strike for a plethora of reasons, and the immediate reasons for the protests in recent weeks, according to Sally Hunt (general secretary of the union representing academics), was to request further negotiations to improve the pay rise offer of employers from a minimal 1 per cent. Warwick university, similarly to universities all across the country, have of course been arranging strikes for years and decades, though in recent years this has been to protest Michael Gove’s continued privatisation of the education system. I feel it necessary early in this article to highlight these motivations for strike action, as when there is mentioned strike action, or protests, the words carry a great deal of negative connotations. In the case of teacher strikes, the immediate disruption of the class-

The number of UK universities that did not have their funding cut in 2011.

room is accentuated, while the motivation behind strike action is clouded and ,for the most part, dismissed. The response from the history students at Warwick present a question worth asking - are these students rebelling against privatisation by selforganising their lectures, or are they crossing the picket line and undermining the teachers’ protest? After all, the cost of student tuition has tripled

this system highlights this reliance on them, and the risk teachers take in striking against privatisation and our rising tuitions fees should earn them great respect, as administrations tend to cater to us students as actual individuals, while teachers are interchangeable; either part-time or full-time equivalencies. You have to wonder if (touch wood) tuition fees rise again, when students’ positions

Teachers are absolutely necessary for an education system. in recent years, so surely a missed lecture adds insult to injury for the students. However, as students, we should ask ourselves whether one or two missed lectures is worth fretting over when contrasted with the risk that our teachers take, and what they are standing for. Teachers are absolutely necessary for an education system, this point is not really up for dispute - the Warwick students self-organised for a few lectures, not an entire semester. The teachers temporarily stepping out of

shift further towards consumers of university more than they already are, would the students in Warwick still be proud of their undermining of their teachers’ action? After looking at what is being fought against, the effect of a strike on students is minimal. By causing a disruption in order to highlight the necessity of the worker, the teacher in this case is the purpose of strike action, so the disruption to the classroom is minimal. Completing work for and attending lectures is not dependent

The percentage of university courses that were cut in 2012.

The amount of money, in pounds, that will be saved by cutting the National Studentship Program.

entirely on the university classroom, since the classroom is not anchored to the university building. Students are encouraged to email work, to request feedback. One line of thought may be, “hey, my work is due on this date when teachers are striking, but we have a ‘turnitin’ system, and I’m sure lecturers aren’t likely to penalise our grading due to their striking.” It is fair to assume that the students at Warwick were not acting in solidarity with their teachers. Instead they were either unaware of the risk our teachers are taking for themselves and us, or intent on showing a disregard for the teachers. I heard today from one of my tutors that a strike was happening on February 6, and I think if the strike does occur I’ll use the spare time to catch up on the reading list. I can chat to my tutors about the lectures missed during office hours, no problem. I think in light of these protests we need to appreciate our teachers, and step away from the idea that they’re simply figureheads in front of powerpoint presentations, because we all know they’re far more than that.

12% 75m 1000 The amount, in pounds, that English maintenance grants will be cut by next year.

£350,000,000 The amount of grant money that Universities Secretary, David Willets intends to cut.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

POLITICS

Flying the flag International students talk politics

In Brief Syrian Refugees To Be Granted Asylum DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced that Britain will become a safe haven to an estimated 500 Syrian refugees. The move is heavily endorsed by the Labour Party and has won the support of UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Despite these plans, the coalition government has refused to sign up to the official U.N. High Commission for Refugees Sanctuary Program, which aims to settle 30,000 Syrian refugees in Western countries. However, Nick Clegg emphasised the monetary contribution of Britain to help victims of violence in both Syria and other Middle-Eastern countries, saying “The £600 million we have provided makes us the second largest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid in the world.”

MPs’ Catering Complaints

by IDA VÄISÄNEN

I Won The Lottery

once heard a joke in which a Finn meets a talking elephant. Instead of asking the elephant relevant questions, like how the talking elephant came to be, the Finn is only interested in what the elephant thinks of Finland. I find the joke very fitting because as a small country we are desperate for the world’s approval. Now our fragile egos have been shaken. In a piece written for The Guardian, British journalist Michael Booth kicks the proverbial hornet’s nest by giving his honest opinion about the Nordic countries. Even though Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland get their fair share of criticism - the part of the article addressing Finland is quite short - it has already spawned an equally critical piece about Britain by a Finnish journalist. Saku-Pekka Sundelin, the author of

this piece published by Ilta Sanomat, says that there is no reason for Finns to be provoked. Behind the criticism you can clearly hear Booth’s fondness towards the Nordic countries and the Finns. Still, the original piece has left many internet users very upset in their Nordic passive-aggressive manner. In his article Booth mentions Finland’s high murder and suicide rates, alcohol abuse, social incapability, and even Finland’s crown jewel, our topranked school system (it has to be our crown jewel now that we have sold Nokia.) Most of the points he makes are nothing new to the Finns. It just hurts to hear them from somebody else. I have to agree that even though Booth’s points are accurate, they don’t, in my slightly biased opinion, tell the full story. Yes, we do drink a lot. We also tend to bottle up our feelings for years and suffer quietly until we snap and kill either ourselves or someone else. Michael

Booth is right about that, unfortunately. Still, nothing is as straightforward as it might seem in a single article. Because of their ingrown silence people might not seek help for their problems before it’s too late. The aftermath has already been mentioned. But what about the apple of our blue eyes, our top-ranked education? When I was a kid, I was told that being born in Finland is like winning the lottery. We had so many things to be thankful for education-wise, like free education (didn’t make school any less boring), free school meals (that still didn’t make them taste any better), free books, free everything. We got to be the ungrateful and unappreciative children of an independent democracy where we would top every international school ranking. Another reason to be thankful. And proud. Am I proud? Of course I am. I feel privileged to have been part of this appreciated school system. I can still remember taking those rate tests. We

never got to see the results ourselves but did get told off afterwards for not doing as well as we could’ve. I also remember the atmosphere of conformity. All the times that I, a relatively good student, remember getting told off were for the most bizarre reasons such as drawing sunglasses for a sun during art class. You were allowed to be creative as long as you were creative in the approved way. The same conformity continues now when us kids look for jobs. The requirements for the simplest of tasks grow faster than the amount of tourism commercials, leaving young people between no work experience and no work because they don’t have the required experience. Still, you have to make sacrifices in order to keep up, as the world looks upon Nordic countries in their search for the perfect society. As a resident of Denmark, Michael Booth should also know that.

Helsinki, Finland

COMPLAINTS made by Westminster politicians regarding catering have been published following a Freedom of Information request by The Independent newspaper. The complaints, which date from 20122013, include a rant against an “inferior” coffee machine and the change of practice which no longer allows visitors to take copies of the menu as souvenirs. Despite the fact that prices at Westminster’s restaurant are cheaper than most nearby restaurants, this did not stem the complaints, a majority of which centred on the “poor” service. The restaurant is currently able to offer low prices as it is subsidised by UK taxpayers at the rate of £1.3m a year.

New Campaign Group Urges Young People To Vote

‘BITE the Ballot’, a new campaign group dedicated to encouraging young people to vote in UK elections, is slowly but surely gathering celebrity supporters. Both Eliza Doolittle and Tinie Tempah have made public statements in association with ‘Bite the Ballot’, which was founded by Michael Sani, who is both an actor and a campaigner. Doolittle, speaking about her own political inactivity as teenager, said “It’s important to teach kids to register to vote, as it gives you the voice to express those issues.” Only 44% of 18-24 year-olds voted in the 2010 General Election.

SEREN | FEBRUARY ISSUE 2014

SCIENCE In Brief

Comet Hunt

THE European Space Agency’s comet-chasing Rosetta space probe woke up from over 2 years of hibernation last month, much to the relief of space scientists and astronomers. The probe, which is now near the orbit of Jupiter, will rendezvous with the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko later this year, in an attempt to unlock the secrets of comets and their role in the Solar System’s formation. Many scientists think that the water and organic materials involved in forming life on the early Earth could have come from outer space, ‘piggybacking’ on comets such as Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Part of Rosetta’s mission will be to investigate that possibility. For now though, the researchers involved are just happy that Rosetta phoned home safe and well.

$1m Equation

A RESEARCHER from Kazakhstan claims to have solved one of the world’s toughest maths problems – but his solution’s proving tricky to check because it’s written in Russian. Mukhtarbay Otelbayev claims to have solved the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, to do with the equations used for everything from designing aeroplanes to weather forecasting. The problem’s considered so important that the Clay Mathematics Institute in the USA has offered a million dollar reward to the first person to solve it. Despite the worldwide interest, however, the solution can’t yet be checked because it’s only in Russian. Mathematicians are currently collaborating to translate Otelbayev’s paper as quickly as possible. Even if he has got it right, though, he’ll still have to wait a bit longer yet for his money – the Clay Institute says that the proof has to remain unchallenged for two years before it’ll pay out.

New River Dolphin Discovered

by LUKE BARRETT

team of scientists from the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil have discovered a new species of freshwater river dolphin in the Amazon, known as the Inia araguaiaensis or the Araguaian Boto. The species is thought to have evolved over 2 million years ago. How is it that these creatures have eluded human discovery for so long? Living in the Araguaia river basin, a major river in Brazil, they were assumed to be Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) that had broken off

Blue-Eyed Boy

SPANISH scientists used DNA found in a 7000-year-old wisdom tooth to learn about the appearance and diet of European huntergatherers. Genetic analysis of the DNA, from a fossil found in a remote cave in the north-west of Spain, showed that he had dark hair and skin but also blue eyes – a combination only rarely found in today’s Europeans. He was also probably lactose intolerant and found starch hard to digest. People only evolved to be able to eat milk and starch after the dawn of farming – which happened in Europe around 1000 years after the caveman died. The study also suggests that artists would have to rethink how they portrayed early Europeans. Many depictions show hunter-gatherers as blond-haired and fair-skinned – which this one definitely wasn’t!

from the larger population. DNA tests showed that the population of dolphins were genetically distinct from their dolphin cousins.River dolphins are considered one of the world’s rarest animals. They are believed to be distant relatives to the sea-dwelling dolphins and have long beaks that allow them to hunt for fish along the river beds. According to the IUCN, there are only four known species, and three of them are on the Red List, meaning they are critically endangered.The Araguaian variety is the first new discovery of a true river dolphin since 1918, when scientists first described

the species Lipotes vexillifer – the Chinese baiji which itself is now extinct. The baiji was declared “functionally extinct” after survey mission in 2006 failed to find a single specimen.Experts in Brazil said that they observed around 120 of the Araguaian animals over the course of a 12 week study, and estimate that there could be as few as 600 left across the whole river basin. The Araguaia-Tocantins basin suffers huge human disturbance, since the 1960s, the Araguaia river basin has been the site of human development including agriculture, ranching activities, and the construction of hy-

droelectric damsThe dolphins are top predators so they eat a lot of fish, they are known to rob fishing nets so fishermen tend to dislike them and people shoot them.The discovery of the new Araguaian Boto is not only fascinating, as any new creature is, but serves as just another reminder of how little we still know about all the creatures within the rainforests of South America. There are still thousands of areas of rainforest that have never been studied, meaning that there could potentially be thousands or even millions of plants and animals that we still do not know about.

Should Diet Pills be Illegal?

by CALLUM HULME

or many of us, the idea of a pill that can help to burn away fat and make weight loss a much easier task sounds perfect - a ‘weightloss pill’ that could help maximise the effects of a trip to the gym or aid us in our strict dieting plans. Some people, it would seem, have found such a thing – or at least, they believe they have – in the form of DNP. DNP is drug marketed as a fatburning pill, sold online and imported into the UK for consumption by the paying customer. The reality is more disturbing. DNP is actually a fertiliser, packaged and sold under false pretences, and has led

to the deaths of 60 people worldwide – 4 coming from the UK in the last 18 months alone. Campaigns now exist to remove DNP from the market entirely. Families of the deceased have lobbied the government in attempts to re-classify DNP as a class C drug – something that campaigners believe would largely deter potential consumers from investing in the drug. DNP came onto the market in the wake of drugs such as sibutramine (Reductil) and rimonabant (Acomplia) – both of which had experienced lengthy trials, and were removed from market once dangerous side-effects began to surface. The only NHS-approved ‘diet pill’

in the UK today is known as ‘Orlistat’, sold under the brand name ‘Xenical’. This is, however, very unpopular as one of the most common side-effects is diarrhoea. Two other drugs available in the UK, which are not recommended by the NHS, are the appetite suppressants phentermine and diethylpropion. These two drugs have been around since the 1960’s and are still available via prescription from private doctors and ‘professional slimming clinics’. A failed attempt to illegalise them over a decade ago sees them hanging on by a thread, their reputations tarnished, and they are only legally supplied to members of the Obesity Management Association.

Attempts from pharmaceutical companies to perfect a diet pill have failed in the past and continue to fail today. The technology hasn’t been perfected and most, if not all of them, are of serious detriment to the consumer’s health. In the wake of the most recent deaths caused by the latest failed attempt at a ‘diet pill’, the government is starting to take notice. The families of the deceased want an end to false and often deadly ‘weight-loss’ pharmaceuticals and with their campaigns gathering supporters and national attention, it could only be a matter of time before these drugs are removed from the market, reclassified as class C drugs, and illegalised.

FEBRUARY ISSUE 2014 | SEREN

SCIENCE Science @ Bangor Cigarette Messages

Future Predictions

by EDWIN PYNEGAR

uckerberg might still have been in fourth grade, and a “social network” was something found in a telephone book, but in 1992, an episode of Seinfeld pretty much predicted the existence of the social network we all love (or love to hate). He called it “the phone machine”, but got everything else pretty much spot on, even down to red notifications. And why would the phone machine be so popular? “It’s very important for human beings to feel they are popular and well liked amongst a large group of people that we don’t care for.” Ouch. Check out the video here… http://bit. ly/1blc7yi The Simpsons wasn’t just an iconic piece of 90s pop culture – it was also a great source of predictions of the future. Many of those episodes from back then have eerie flash-forwards to our lives today. 1995’s ‘Lisa’s Wedding’, supposed to be set in 2010, shows Lisa and Marge using a “Picturephone” to communicate – something looking very much like Skype – and her future fiancée makes phonecalls into his watch. The creators didn’t get everything right though – the Picturephone still has a rotary dial on it, something only found in museums now… “Have you ever crossed the country – without asking for directions?” In the early ‘90s the idea of a computer

that told you where to drive was pretty much unknown – imagine not having to rely on map books or the A to Z! (Does anyone still have those, by the way?) American telecoms giant AT&T predicted satnavs in 1993 in an advertising campaign, several years before the first one actually made it on the market. And they didn’t just get the concept right – the design too looks pretty much like any satnav you might have in your car today. At the size of a brick and weighing

smartphone design. The Millennium Bug, Y2K, whatever you wanted to call it – it was the ultimate in tech scare stories. At the turn of the millennium, the computers were all going to go crazy by thinking it was 1900 and thereby bring down civilisation as we know it! (The problem was a relic from the earliest days of computing when, to save memory space, programmers had only used the last two digits of the year.) Actually, of course, everyone was OK, but not

...THE INTERNET WILL SOON GO SPECTACULARLY SUPERNOVA AND IN 1996 CATASTROPHICALLY COLLAPSE... in at around 500 grams, it certainly won’t be challenging the iPhone 5 in the design stakes any time soon – but it was still way ahead of its time. The world’s first smartphone hit the market in 1994 It was called Simon, sold by IBM, and had a touchscreen (black and white, of course), email, and predictive typing. And you could even get “apps” for it, in the form of memory cards you could buy and then plug in, giving it extra capabilities. Simon was a business flop, but even now IBM is still making money out of it, through the patents it still has relating to

without quite a bit of work from the tech community. And it showed just how vulnerable modern life would be to computer meltdown. “I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.” Not quite (regardless of how much we might want it when there’s a deadline fast approaching). This wasn’t just the prediction of a crank though – Robert Metcalfe was the inventor of the Ethernet cable, so presumably someone who knew a thing or two about the Web. Three years later, he fed a copy

of the column he wrote that in to a blender, mixed it with water, and ate the resulting concoction live on stage. If you’re going to have to eat your words, you might as well do it in style. Right? First going on sale in 1993, voice activated remote controls were supposed to be the next big thing in home entertainment. All you do is tell the TV what you want to watch, and there it is – on the screen! While you can still buy these on Ebay, they never really took off – probably because no couch potato is quite so lazy that a voice activated remote control would be that much of an improvement over a normal one… In the 90s virtual reality promised endless possibilities, and not only for gaming – in the future, promised its evangelists, you’d be able to “go” to New York or Tokyo or a tropical beach from the comfort of your own living room! Sounds amazing – so what happened? Well, there’s the small matter of motion sickness – cutting out all external cues, as when you’re wearing a virtual reality headset, makes it many times worse. And wearing a helmet that makes you look like Daft Punk was, well, pretty daft. But watch this space – they might not be as dead as people thought. A VR headset for gaming, the Oculus Rift, is apparently coming out next year.

Fruit Flies Detect Cancer

by CALLUM HULME

hanks to the work being done by Researchers from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and the University La Sapienza in Rome, Italy, it seems that a newer, much easier way of detecting Cancer may soon be gracing our hospitals. The experiments, involving fruit flies, are showing great promise, and a progress report was published and commented upon by lead scientist Martin Strauch from the University of Konstanz in the journal Scientific

Reports. There are metabolic differences between cancerous and healthy cells, says Strauch, and they emit slightly different odours. Much too subtle for human noses to detect, it has previously been discovered that dogs, bees and fruit flies are more than capable of picking them apart. Dogs, with a bit of training, can differentiate between a range of cancers, including Melanoma, bladder, prostate, lung, breast, ovarian and colorectal. The problem arises from their inability to communicate these results to humans, something that, in light of re-

cent events, has proven not to be such a problem in the case of fruit flies, who share the same olfactory sensitivities and abilities as dogs. Using Bioluminescence has become routine in the realms of genetic modification, as it provides clear confirmation that the desired or targeted gene has been found. In the case of the fruit flies, they can be genetically modified so that their antennae, which are known to have over fifty olfactory senses, can glow different colours in the presence of certain cancerous cells. Scientists have used these results to create a sort of ‘scientific nose,’ a

machine with similar sensitivities to odours as that of the fruit fly. This machine offers a non-invasive, easyto-use way of screening patients for cancer, and could be employed as regularly as simple check-ups at the doctor’s. In the event that this machine is successful in implementing such a detection system, it could potentially catch cancer very early and increase the chance of successful treatment and survival rates. Could the future of Cancer detection really be as simple as Red, Green or Blue?

TWO researchers in the Business School have been working on a novel way to encourage people to quit smoking – by putting a health warning not just on the box, but on the cigarettes themselves. Dr Louise Hassan and Prof. Edward Shiu ran an experiment in which they wrote on each cigarette either that smoking it would cost, on average, 11 minutes of life, or a message listing the toxic contents of cigarette smoke. They found that when asked about their intentions to quit, smokers who’d been shown either of the cigarettes with messages on were more likely to say they were going to do so soon than those shown the ordinary cigarettes. Their work is particularly relevant because of the move in many countries towards plain packaging, meaning that tobacco companies are likely start putting their branding on the cigarette itself.

Invader Detection

THE School of Ocean Sciences and Natural Resources Wales are working together on a project to detect nonnative species entering Welsh seas. Most non-native species are not harmful, but a few cause damage by “taking over” – outcompeting native marine life and damaging habitats. This leads to declines in species important to fishermen such as oysters and crabs. The researchers are planning to work closely with the fishing industry to develop a reporting system against the invasive species. At the sites where they work, the fishermen will monitor “settlement panels” attached to buoys for early signs of the invaders. By encouraging early detection, it’s hoped that the costs of dealing with such problem species will be kept much lower.

GeneticTime Machine SCIENTISTS studying seals in Antarctica have found that genetic variation in populations can develop much more quickly than previously thought. Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences studied the DNA of an extinct group of elephant seals, finding that genetic diversity within populations can “crop up” quickly and easily in good conditions. This suggests that populations of species threatened by environmental change such as global warming might be able to cope better than expected because this kind of genetic diversity is the “raw material” for adaptation and evolution to new environments.

Seren | February Issue 2014

ENVIRONMENT

MARINE MASSACRE Faroe Islands’ annual blood bath

POPULATION ROSE FROM 5 TO 6 BILLION

by GEMMA SIMMONS

very year, in the Faroe Islands, one of the biggest massacres of cetaceans known to man takes place. Known as ‘the drive’ or ‘grind’ the massacre involves small cetaceans being herded towards the shore. Cetaceans are then dragged up onto beaches, by placing hooks in their blowholes, before being slaughtered. The whale meat is then shared between the villagers for use as food. The cetaceans slaughtered are mostly pilot whales; however, other small cetaceans are also often taken. The hunt has a recorded history since 1584, so Faroese people defend the hunt as part

of their cultural heritage however; the death toll seems to be rising each year. In the 2013 season, between July and November, 1104 pilot whales and 430 Atlantic white sided dolphins were killed. In recent years, the hunt has attracted international criticism from many animal welfare organisations. However, some claim that the hunt is not a threat to the sustainability of the whale population but it is more the sheer brutality of the hunt that attracts attention. As well as affecting animal rights, the hunt also entices attention from the medical profession. In 2008, two chief medical officers strongly rec-

ommended against the consumption of the whale meat saying it is too toxic for human consumption, with children and pregnant women being most at risk to the ill effects of the meat. At the forefront of conservation efforts is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The invaluable work that the society has been involved in worldwide is often very controversial but successful. They travel to the Faroe Islands every year to educate, investigate and intervene, preventing this massacre. As part of their 2014 ‘grindstop’ project sea shepherd will be travelling around the UK on a speaking tour. After attracting so much attention

in other countries. Environmental and green groups spoke out, stating the new targets had a lack of ambition and was a “dangerously low” emissions cut. The climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard said that despite the economic climate, the 40% target was a significant advance. An RSPB climate campaigner said: “We are very disappointed with the European Commission’s announcements on climate and energy today. A dangerous gulf is opening up between the reality of climate change, which threatens to cause huge suffering and

drive many species into extinction and European leaders’ commitment to tackling it. A 40% greenhouse gas target is not nearly enough, and the 27% renewables target – which comes with an opt-out clause - is unambitious.” Europe will also produce 27% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, compared to its 2007 target of 20% of all energy coming from solar, wind or other renewables. The UK is keen to use nuclear energy as a way to meet these new targets. While in Germany, the world leader on renewable power and the EU's biggest economy, is implementing a radical energy shift

over the past few years regarding animal rights, the minister of fisheries recently announced that as of May 2015 all persons taking part in the hunt must pass a course in laws and correct killing procedures in order to obtain a killing license. Without this license, participation in the hunt will be illegal. The course involves training in the use of grind tools, such as nostril hooks and spinal lances and the use of the grind knife and grinding hook will no longer be permitted in order to reduce the suffering of the animals. Sea Shepherd will be speaking at Bangor University on the 20th of February 2014.

2030 CLIMATE TARGETS DECIDED

HURRICANE MITCH KILLS 20,000 PEOPLE

by ALISON CROSS

n the 22 of January, the European Commission outlined their new climate and energy policy until 2030. The binding target was set at a 40% reduction in carbon emissions from the 1990 levels. The target is an improvement on the one set for 2020, a cut in emissions of 20%, which was virtually reached by 2012. The 2030 target would have to be achieved "through domestic measures alone", meaning that member states will not be allowed to offset their reductions by paying for carbon cutting nd

away from nuclear into renewables. All of the proposals put forward by the Commission will be reviewed by the European Council in March. It is not expected that formal legislative proposals will be agreed before 2015, as this is when a crunch meeting of world governments will gather in Paris to decide a global framework for avoiding dangerous levels of global warming. Every major developed and developing economy is expected to set out its own binding national emissions target within the next year, for the United Nations talks to go ahead in 2015.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

ENVIRONMENT

Brief 60 SECOND FLASH GARDEN InPURPLE TOMATOES

Bangor students showing their green fingers by AL HULLEY

n 13th January a collaboration of societies joined forces. The goal was to promote environmental sustainability, for a UK wide Uni competition. In 60 seconds Ffridd site laid host to a garden, the aim of which was to improve aesthetics, encouraging a healthy outdoor lifestyle, during exam period. Students from a variety of backgrounds and interests left their revision behind making the vision of a Flash Garden become reality. The projects aim was to increase sustainability awareness, therefore it was important the garden was environmentally friendly. For this reason, wood was salvaged from the local tip. Also 40 Christmas trees (supplied by Gwynedd council), were recycled from local households. These trees

will be further recycled by Bangor University’s Estates Team, as they will be shredded and the wood chip will be used to form footpaths at Treborth Botanical Gardens. The two planters were constructed from wooden pallets which were donated by HOGSoc. The plants for the two planters were supplied from Holland Arms (a local garden centre), maintaining local trade. All the compost used was peat-free because of the importance of conserving peat bogs, which act as a major carbon sink. The topiary tree which was planted by the Vice Chancellor was supplied by estates. Three wooden benches were constructed from unwanted felled trees. The garden was designed to represent the Snowdonia landscape, highlighting the biodiversity issues surrounding coniferous monoculture against native broad-leave woodland.

As Snowdonia and Snowdon are both very iconic symbols of North Wales, a mountain was constructed, to represent Snowdonia's mountainous landscape, using membrane supplied by estates and fallen branches. This membrane will be reused around the university in order to minimise weed growth. A slate path was also central in representing Snowdonia for two reasons, the path represented the fluvial environment of North Wales, moreover linking into the Slate mining industry, which much of North Wales was built on. The SENRGy green societies were heavily involved in the project, HOGSoc being at the forefront. HOGSoc provided the majority of materials as well as the labour. For the competition the garden’s creation was captured by Student Cut films and the music performed by Bangor University Brass

Band. The event carried on throughout the day and was led by STAG and HOGSoc. Activities involved making bird feeders, potting plants and educating students about current environmental affairs. It was a fantastic project, collaborating the student body, wider university and local community.

Scan this code to find the video and vote:

THE John Innes Centre, has developed purple tomatoes that are genetically modified to produce anthocyanins, the pigments in blueberries and blackberries. Anthocyanins are thought to offer protection against certain cancers, cardiovascular disease and age related degenerative diseases; studies will look at the possible positive effects on humans. Earlier tests show that purple tomatoes have anti-inflammatory effects and slow cancer development in cancer-prone mice, as well as double the shelf life of normal tomatoes. This research is very exciting but the current widespread views on GM crops create barriers for researchers. It is the widespread opposition in the EU that caused Professor Cathie Martin to look to Canada where the regulations are more supportive of GM crops, “they look at the trait not the technology .... asking if what you’re doing is safe and beneficial, not ‘Is it GM and therefore we’re going to reject it completely’”. Tomatoes are the 4th most popular fruit in the UK and these purple alternatives could have widespread health benefits for all. Could purple ketchup be the way forward?

CLIMATE FUNDING LOST

GRAND CANYON YOUNGER THAN THOUGHT

SINCE climate change ‘sceptic’, Owen Paterson took over as Environment Secretary in 2012 the amount of money spent preparing the UK for the impacts of climate change has been halved. The funding is designated for use in finding ways to protect the UK from the increased risk of floods and increased frequency of droughts and heat waves expected with future climate change. Speaking after the last International Report on Climate Change in 2013, Paterson said it could not be taken seriously, as the predicted temperature rise was only modest. This is contradictory to all the warnings issued by climate change scientists who claim that significant funding will be required to help the UK adapt for future change.

STUDENTS HIT BACK AT RHODODENDRON

by CHRIS GLASS

he Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin and has been sculpted and moulded over millions of years by the Colorado River, creating one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The canyon was first explored by Major John Wesley Powell in 1869 and since then, has been extensively studied through all disciplines. The natural process of riverine erosion has caused the extensive exposure of nearly two billion years’ worth of geology, allowing a greater understanding into the geology of the land to be discovered. However one

aspect of the canyon, which has never been fully understood until now, is the canyon’s age. Earlier studies into the age of the Grand Canyon have suggested that the canyon is around 70 million years old. However, a paper that has been recently published by the journal ‘Nature Geoscience’ puts the age of the canyon as only 5-6 million years. The study conducted does not simply state that the whole of the 277 mile long canyon, which reaches depths of up to one mile in some places, has been carved out by the river just six million years ago; instead erosional processes six million years ago shaped the can-

yon to create the recognisable features seen today. The Grand Canyon can be split into five main segments, all of which have different ages. The latest studies conducted into the ageing of the canyon used a technique known as thermochronology. This process measures the changes in the structure of rock mineral crystals as they cool through time. Deeply buried rocks cool as they come closer to the surface as erosion removes overlying layers of material. By looking at the changes in rock crystals, deductions can be made into the age of each segment of the canyon. The results show that the oldest seg-

ment known as the 'Hurricane' segment was found to be formed 70 million years ago, with the 'Eastern Grand Canyon' being formed 25 million years ago. The two segments of the Grand Canyon known as the 'Marble Canyon' and the 'Westernmost Grand Canyon' were the youngest at 5 -6 million years old. When these two segments were carved, the whole of the Grand Canyon system and the Colorado River was joined forming the recognisable canyon seen today. The Colorado River is still causing erosion of the canyon at a rate of around 1mm per year and has been for the past 500,000 years.

ON the first Sunday of every month the Bangor University National Trust Society (BUNTS) partakes in a variety of conservation activities. Recently the National Trusts Craflwyn estate was the focus, with the main activity undertaken being Rhododendron removal. The purpose of the exercise was to ensure native species had the greatest chance of flourishing in their natural environment. The Rhododendron plants were pulled up from the ground and the soil removed from their roots, thus hindering rhododendron growth, preventing the out competition of native species and subsequent loss in biodiversity. BUNTS next meet on Sunday 1st February.

Seren | February Issue 2014

INTERVIEW

CERYS MATTHEWS

Cerys Matthews

Singer, songwriter, author, broadcaster and 90s rocker Cerys Matthews is a woman of many talents and passions. After heading to Bangor in December for the latest stop on her ‘Hook, Line and Carol Singing’ tour, Seren Editor Becki sat down with Cerys to find out about the inspiration behind her latest projects, and why she wants more people to just make a load of noise. by BECKI WATSON You were here last year playing in PJ Hall. How do you enjoy being in Bangor, and what’s it like as a venue? It’s a big venue and it has it’s own characteristics soundwise because of that. It’s always interesting doing a sound check but people come in and change the sound. It has such great character, with all that wood and it’s beautiful, and nice people run it. But more than that I’ve spent a lot of time in Bangor myself, having fun and I have friends living here, so I do love coming back to Bangor.

forming songs in Welsh, including some traditional Welsh folk songs. How important is it to you to stay connected to your Welsh identity in your music? It’s where I’m from so it informs everything I do, from the start I collected songs from everywhere, because if you’re interested in your culture then it’s often the case that you’re interested in culture as a whole, and even if you start scratching the surface you’ll find that most songs aren’t exactly what you think they are. For example, there’s Moliannwn, which we all know from school, and you think it’s a real Welsh song,

IF YOU START SCRATCHING THE SURFACE... MOST SONGS AREN’T EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE...

You’ve released a number of singles and albums with you per-

but the tune is actually an American tune, which happens quite a lot. As well, there’s House of the Rising Sun,

which I think has roots in Welsh folk music and that’s how it goes on, the links are often more interesting to me than the differences. I’ve also been singing Welsh music forever. I went to an English-language Secondary school and I didn’t know very many Welsh speaking Welsh people as I grew up in Swansea, but I dated a drummer called Dicko who was very active on the Welsh language scene, and I would learn to play all the classics on guitar. It’s actually lovely now to record them and play them all over the world and get people speaking Welsh. Was this part of the idea for your songbook, to preserve these Welsh classics? It’s not actually about preserving them, i just love them so much and I have so much fun with them and their histories and singing them, I thought it would be good to put them in one book. I’ve been collecting them for a long time, so by putting them in one book it encourages people to make some noise, regard-

less of whether they’re confident or if they think they can’t sing, it doesn’t

We’ve enjoyed music for centuries before there was a huge business,

MOST OF THE STUFF WE HEAR ON THE RADIO NOW AREN’T VOICES ANYWAY, IT’S ALL AUTOTUNED... matter. Most of the stuff we hear on the radio now aren’t voices anyway, it’s all autotuned, or it isn’t even the main artist singing on the record. It’s just nice in our lives where we spend so much time on our machines to put them down for a minute and make a hell of a noise. You’ve said in the past that you like music best when you can ‘hear the humans in it’. With advances in recording and technology do you think this is something that’s being lost in music these days? I think that is the case a bit, but I like the fact that the music I love the most predates the business of music.

and when you know that people are recording stuff just to appeal to youngsters because they know that they’ll make more money out of them, that doesn’t particularly interest me. I like music for the sake of it, and for the journey it takes you on. Was this part of inspiration behind your new songbook, ‘Hook, Line and Singer’, to celebrate the collaborative aspects of music? I think some of the best times you can have is when you’re sat with your family and friends making a rowdy noise, and you’re not worrying about what you look or sound like, and the beauty of these songs stand on their

February Issue 2014 | Seren

INTERVIEW

“SOME OF THE BEST TIMES YOU CAN HAVE ARE WHEN YOU’RE SAT WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS MAKING A ROWDY NOISE, AND YOU’RE NOT WORRYING WHAT YOU LOOK OR SOUND LIKE...” own no matter what sort of versions you do. It makes you feel good, singing. As well as this, your music has featured a lot of different genres over the years, from the indie-pop of Catatonia, to folk and ballads in your later work. Does experimenting with different styles keep you inspired as an artist?

It’s kind of tongue in cheek, and kind of a carry-on from the book. It’s just having fun with music and encouraging people to know that the only mystery to music making is when you stumble, and it often is stumble, across a turn of phrase or a melody that touches you or other people, and how and why it touches you to such a degree is so mysterious, but the rest is just making a good noise, or just noise in general. The whole

THE IDEA OF SINGING IN THE SAME WAY FOR TWENTY YEARS, I THINK THAT WOULD BE TOUGH TO DO. Definitely, I enjoy moving on, the idea of singing in the same way for twenty years, I think that would be tough to do. I’ve always listened to different kinds of genres so I don’t even think about it too much, but what’s interesting about recording is that it takes on a life of its own. I’ve likened it to trying to nail a snake to a board; it’ll just wriggle all over the place, you have to let it go and let it find its own way. You can’t pin it down, that would defy the point of it. I like the journey of experiments. The name is kind of a clue, but what can people expect from your ‘Hook, Line and Carol Singing’ tour?

tour is essentially just making noise with people, so I’ve got people from around the country singing two different songs at the same time, as well as getting people in Derby and Pocklington singing in Welsh. One of your hobbies that you’ve talked about before is fishing. Who taught you to fish, and have you taught your children to fish? I have a fishing expert called Dave, who was a fireman in Cardiff, who’s taught me fly fishing, coarse fishing and shark fishing, and also took me to Ian Heaps who taught me and my then three year old daughter pole fishing, but it was a bit soon, as she

kept touching up the carp that we were catching! What was the conversation like when you met Bob Dylan? I’ve met him a few times actually. I think we all have something to do on this earth, so I don’t usually take heroes, but I just think he is extraordinary, both as a song collector and an artist. It just goes to show now that he’s having major world hits in his 70s, with the likes of Adele covering his songs. He keeps surprising you as well, with releasing a Christmas song like ‘Must be Santa’, you wouldn’t have thought a few years ago that Bob Dylan would release a Christmas song. He’s just incredible, but i’m not gonna tell you exactly what we talked about! You sing songs in Welsh and in English, which is something people really love about you, but do you prefer one language over the other? I actually sing in French on the tour, as well as Spanish and German, so I just love languages. But the Welsh language is just so beautiful, and the songs are so exquisitely written, like ‘I’m not going to love you until the two sides of the shores meet’. It’s also a great feeling to be singing in Welsh to a Welsh audience, and Bangor is the first Welsh gig on my tour, so it’ll be amazing. What was it like performing with someone as wonderful and influential as Tom Jones, who’s also a fellow Welsh singer? He’s still the best singer I’ve sung with by miles, he's such a natural musician, and a huge music fan himself. We have very similar tastes, so it’s always great to meet up. But to sing classics like ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘What's New Pussycat’ with him was amazing, he’s just incredible and a lovely chap. In many ways, Catatonia was the soundtrack to our youth, so what kind of music did you listen to

THE SIX

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A NICKNAME? Squeaky, because my

voice is so high. FAVOURITE MOVIE? Any of the old classics, like Casablanca or Place in the Sun FAVOURITE BAND? Artsists like Leadbelly, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong or Michael Jackson THREE ITEMS YOU’D TAKE ON A DESERT ISLAND? An instrument of some kind, chillies, and a huge tome of books, like Shakespeare CAN YOU SPELL THE FULL VERSION OF LLANFAIRPG? I can say it, and sing it! WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR TO SEREN 90S NIGHT? I used to kick against 90s fashion, so a gold stetson and a silk green Chinese tunic that I used to wear vid Bowie a lot. I’ve always liked not just current music, but whatever you can find, I’ve always looked and listened and loved. Is there a current band you’re enjoying listening to at the moment? I love White Denim; they’re not quite experimental, but they're shifting around, and you can hear them trying to keep thinking and doing

[TOM JONES] IS STILL THE BEST SINGER I’VE SUNG WITH BY MILES, HE SUCH A NATURAL MUSICIAN growing up? A lot of Bob Dylan, my father was a fan too, as well as Billie Holliday and jazz. I grew up in the 80s, so my sister was listening to Wham and Duran Duran, but I didn’t like the sound, the production, although I liked Da-

things that aren’t straight forward. What I can’t bear is when you hear bands that keep banging on with one idea, it’s just not interesting to me. But that’s the thing about music, it’s subjective, and it’s other people’s cups of tea, and that’s great.

This has been a pretty busy year for you, from performing in the BBC Proms, your work with BBC Radio and your new book, but what can we expect from you in 2014? We have the Dylan Thomas centenary coming up, so there’s a few documentaries I’m involved with for that, but on the whole, I feel like I want to do some gardening. It’s been quite a mad year, and I haven’t gardened in ages. When we signed the record deal in 1995, I bought a house in Cardiff that had a fifty-foot, south facing garden, but that’s long gone, and I haven’t had a garden since, apart form in America, but it’s compeltely diffferent over there. But we’ve just bought a house now that we move into at the end of the tour and it’s got a little tiny garden, I can’t wait to put rhubarb in it and a barbecue! There’s also my radio show, which is my baby, cos i just love programming that with so many beautiful, mad different genres and recordings.

Seren | February Issue 2014

UNION

Photo by Pippa Beston (PhotoSoc)

Student Union Landlord Awards

n Tuesday 4th of February Bangor Students’ Union hosted the first ever Bangor Landlord Awards Ceremony. Landlords have long called for a positive approach to housing from students, and the Students’ Union firmly believes in promoting the good about housing in Bangor. Doing this means that we can positively engage with landlords and students, whilst trying to push up standards and the quality of the renting experience in Bangor. The aim of the awards is to encour-

his year the Students’ Union has placed an emphasis on mental health and the support available to students to ensure that they can continue with their studies whilst receiving support, are aware of the services available, and that we can begin to break the barriers to talking about mental health, reducing any stigma and discrimination that exists. So far the Students’ Union has run a Time to Change (Mental Health) Week, have engaged with staff on dis-

age students to think before renting, and to encourage students to take part in our housing campaign, positively contributing to the Students’ Union’s work on raising standards and increasing awareness for students. A home fit for study is vital whilst at University. If a home is damp, cold, uncomfortable, it’s likely to affect students’ studies and their attainment whilst at University – and we cannot allow such a basic need such as housing to negatively impact on attainment.

Whilst we recognise that not all students get a good deal whilst renting, by creating friendly competition among landlords we can establish a precedent of what’s expected from students as minimum standards. Year after year of nominations we’ll be able to tell landlords what students like and don’t like about the entire process of renting. We want to celebrate the work and effort put in by landlords across Bangor that do provide students with high quality housing and a positive experience.

cussions around attendance monitoring, online accessibility of services and information, and will be engaging in future discussions around reasonable adjustments for examinations and mitigating circumstances. These are in addition to the work that we will do as part of this pledge to support staff and students at our institution. Our message on mental health has been a broad approach to address the barriers faced as individuals in society, but also the barriers faced within the

University, ensuring that students receive the support that they need, and that mechanisms in place to support students are not burdensome. Time to Change Wales is the first national campaign to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. Time to Change Wales is funded by Comic Relief and the Welsh Government, and is delivered by Hafal, Gofal and Mind. The campaign is needed because although mental health difficulties

The winners of the 2014 Awards were; Value Deal of the Year – Manon Griffiths Responsive Landlord of the Year – Mr & Mrs Horne Small Landlord – Roy Roberts Large Landlord/Managing Agent of the Year – Kate Roden

We are pleased with how the awards went this year, and we will be working over the upcoming weeks and months to devise a way to improve the awards next year – from new categories, to boosting awareness among students with increased publicity, engaging with local media and the local community, and of course doing more to engage landlords with the process.

A full list of winners, runners up and nominees will be available on the Bangor Students’ Union website.

are very common, it can still be a taboo subject. People who experience mental illness often face stigma and discrimination in the workplace, socially and within families. This can make life with a mental health condition more difficult than the symptoms themselves. We should all commit to eradicating the existence of stigma and discrimination in society. Bangor Students’ Union and Bangor University will sign the Time to Change Pledge on the 19th of Febru-

ary, which will establish a precedent for promoting and supporting events and initiatives that will promote talking about mental health, encouraging both staff and students to talk positively about mental health and what we can do to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination in society, by starting with attitudes in our own institution.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

UNION

SU SABBATICAL ELECTIONS It’s that time of year again, when people wave giant flags outside Main Arts, plaster the university with poster campaigns, and give you free cupcakes on the way to lectures, all in the hope of gaining your vote. But what’s it all about? With the Students’ Union elections coming up soon, Seren is here to give you all the information you need, as well as the names of the candidates you’ll be seeing a lot of over the next few weeks.

WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Student politics can sometimes come across as a bit boring, but the outcome of the Sabbatical Elections have a huge affect on your time

at Bangor. The Sabbatical Officers are the students elected to run the Students’ Union for a year to make sure that the SU is run according

to the wishes of the students here in Bangor. They have direct contact with the higher-ups at the university, and can influence decisions on

everything from essay feedback to university funding for student facilities. With your student experience at stake, it’s definitely worth your time

checking out the candidates to see who you think would be best for the job. Plus, who doesn’t love a bit of democracy?

There are four roles open for election: SU President, who co-ordinates and leads the sabb team and speaks on behalf of students to the uni and local community; VP Education & Welfare, who works with the uni on academic, welfare and social problems, and co-ordinates

the Course Rep scheme; VP Sport and Healthy Living, who runs the Athlectic Union, liaises with BUCS, and promotes healthy lifestyle campaigns; and VP Societies and Community, who co-ordinates and assists all of the societies in the SU, as well as organising events such as

Serendpity, and other projects within the local community. Once the nominees have declared their candidacy, they can begin campaigning up until the voting closes, which includes debating their manifestos with other candidates at Question Time, and going out to talk

directly to students. Voting is done online, and votes are counted using the AV system, where you must rank the candidates in order of preference; once voting is completed, all of the first preferences are counted and if no one has achieved 50% plus one of the

vote, the lowest ranked candidate is eliminated and their votes transferred to the next preference. This continues until a candidate passes the 50% plus one threshold, or until there is only one candidate left, and they will become the Sabbatical Officer for the next year.

Now that the nominations have been declared, candidates may begin their campaign. Their final manifesto designs must be handed in by

2PM on Wednesday 12th February, and printed publicity material will be ready for collection at 9am on Wednesday 26th February,

the offical start of Campaign Week (when you’re most likely to be able to get free stuff on College Road). Voting will take place on the 3rd, 4th

and 5th March, with voting closing at 2pm on the 5th. The newly elected Sabbs will be announced on the same day from 4pm, and they’ll

begin their term as Sabb on 16th June.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

WHEN IS IT HAPPENING?

THE CANDIDATES PRESIDENT • RHYS TAYLOR

VP EDUCATION & WELFARE

VP SPORT AND HEALTHY LIVING • DAVID BLANEY • JESSICA MCCREERY • NICOLA PYE

VP SOCIETIES AND COMMUNITY

• ADAM BARNARD • MARTYN CURZEY • WILLIAM JOHNSON • IONA MCINTYRE • JAMES REDMOND • TOM HEYNES • LYDIA RICHARDSON • ADAM SHARPLEY • MARK STANLEY

Seren | February Issue 2014

SOCIETIES

In Brief Film Screenings

ALL our screenings take place at the Academi Cinema room on Thursday nights, with the film beginning at 6:10pm. You can like our facebook page “Student Cut Films” for updates on screenings, but if you want to get involved with production, feel free to email films@bangorstudents.com for more info! • 6th Feb – The Wolverine • 13th Feb – About Time • 20th Feb – The Alan Partridge Movie • 27th Feb – Hedd Wyn • 6th March – Blue Jasmine • 13th March – Despicable Me 1 & 2 • 20th March – We’re having a vote! • 27th March – Tarantino Marathon • 3rd April – Arizona Dream

Serendipity 2 SERENDIPITY will be Saturday 15th February in PJ Hall from 10am - 2pm. Plenty more clubs and societies for you to sign up to think about all the ones you might have missed at Serendipity 1! Plus some live demo’s in the outer quad! Come along and say hi!

GeogSoc’s 10th

2014 is the Geographical Society’s 10th Anniversary! This semester we have lots of exciting events, socials and academic talks planned in order to celebrate this major benchmark for your society. Important dates for your diaries! (watch out for further ones) • • • •

Academic talk from Dr Bethan Davies: 11th of March Sport Relief SENRGy Staff vs Student football match: 19th of March (TBC) Academic talk from Dr Dan Venables 23rd of March SUMMER BALL: 9th of May (TBC)

One World Day Gala

THE One World Day, 28th March, is a celebration of the university's cultural diversity and is open to all. The event is free but, as we have done in the past, we will ask for a donation for charity. This year, we’re looking for performers to take part in events throughout the day. Our auditions are on Wednesday 12th February from 5 until 7pm in Rathbone Hall, College Road. So what are waiting for? Dust off your dancing shoes, step away from the karaoke machine and come and have fun with us! For more information just email Manuela at internationalsupport@ bangor.ac.uk or ring 01248 388430.

by TREF ALUN

(RAG CO-ORDINATOR) AG. Raise and Give. It’s a tradition that goes generations back through Bangor University’s history. The concept is simple – run events to raise money for charity. Back in the day, the once annual Rag Parade asked shops along the High Street to pay insurance to RAG so their storefront would not get egged, and in 1973, Bangor RAG pushed a bed all the way from the old Students’ Union building to Liverpool city centre. Gone are the days of such frivolous antics as our old friend Health and Safety came more prominent. Saying that, Bangor RAG is still as alive and active as ever as a project within Student Volunteering Bangor. This year, we’ve moved into the 21st century, as we opened the selection process for our four supported charities for the year up to the entire student body, through the use of an online voting system. You as the student body chose

oppaFeel! Uni Boob Teams nationwide are asking students to take-up the ultimate New Year’s resolution, it will only take up five minutes of your time every month and one day could potentially save your life. What is it? I hear you scream. Quite simply we want you to check your boobs. It is that easy. Every month give your boobs the once over, there is no right or wrong way to do it. Just get coppin’ a feel of your hooters to learn what is normal for you so if you detect a change you can go and get it checked out. CoppaFeel! are on a mission to ensure all breast cancers are diagnosed at the earliest stage possible. At which treatments are more effective and survival rates higher, and the best way of doing that is to get everyone in the

Ynys Môn a n d Gwynedd Mind and St. David’s Hospice as our local charities and Prostate Cancer UK and Children with Cancer UK as our national charities. We’d now like to ask for your support once again. This year “RAG Week” is actually 10 days long – running from Friday 21st February through Sunday 2nd March! Our greatly received Harry Potter Feast is making a comeback. For one night only, PJ Hall will be transformed into Hogwarts’ Great Hall. We’ll be serving a sit down buffet, holding an auction of themed merchandise, awarding prizes for the best costumes, and providing Harry Potter-themed entertainment and an owl with which to take your picture. Tickets are only £15 and are available from the SU Reception, RAG Committee Members, SVB Promotions Committee Members, and we’ll

also be setting up stalls around campus to sell tickets too. If you’re still not Harry Pottered out by the end of the Feast, have no fear we’re hosting a Harry Potter Pub Quiz in the Belle Vue at 2000 on Monday 24th February. We’ll be having some sponsored events such as Cuff Couples on Saturday 22nd February, where you and a friend will be sponsored to be handcuffed together for 12 hours. We have lots of activities and challenges planned as well as a scavenger hunt to keep you on your toes throughout the day including KaRAGoke in The Menai in the evening, which will be open to everyone, not just those cuffed together. It doesn’t matter if you’re short and yellow or not, everyone is welcome to attend our “Minion” Auction on Wednesday 26th February (location TBC – watch out on Facebook!). Why not volunteer your skills as a minion for others to bid on. Or you could be really despicable and bid money for

your friends to carry out tasks for you! Last but not least, if all these events sound like child’s play to you, on Monday 24th February, at 6pm in the Main Arts Lecture Theatre we’ll be hosting an information evening about two of our biggest events of the year. Jail Break, which will run Friday 4th April through Sunday 6th April, is where you try to make it as far away as you can from Bangor in 48 hours without spending a penny on travel costs. Challenge yourself and your friends in teams of twos or threes in this sponsored event and see if you can get as far away as people have in the past. Last year’s winners got to Sofia in Bulgaria! These are just a few of many activities we’ve got planned! For further information about any of our events, or to sign up for a sponsored event, please e-mail rag.manager@bangorstudents.com and keep an eye on our Facebook, ‘RAG Prifysgol Bangor – Bangor University RAG’ and Twitter, @BangorRAG.

country checking their boobs regularly. Chat with your local Uni Boob Team. They will be active all over campus in the next few months to remind students to get a coppin’. Expect Boob Ball, club night takeovers and boob costume bingo! Uni Boob Teams have a whole host of activities up their sleeves in order to get you boob aware. Uni Boob Teams are also inviting students to sign up to CoppaFeel!’s free SMS reminder service, which sends you a free monthly reminder to check your boobs. It’s easy to join, simply text BANGOR to 70500. If you need an extra incentive to sign up merely show your SMS confirmation message to a UBT member to receive a 20% discount code for boohoo.com

who are kindly supporting this year’s UBT campaign. Kristin Hallenga, Founder of CoppaFeel! said “I envisage a world where boob checking is a standard part of a person’s routine, like brushing your teeth! Start a habit of lifetime today and let’s stamp out late and mis-diagnosis of breast cancer”. Here at Bangor University we are doing many events this February in order to promote our cause. We’re starting off with our Boob Week fundraising; during this week, one big event happening is our ‘Tits, giggles and poetry’ evening taking place on Tuesday 4th. Boob Team has joined together with the Comedy Society and the Book & Quills Society, in order to put on a night of entertainment and laughter. This will be followed by various cake sales taking place across Bangor University sites including Main Arts,

Normal Site and Wheldon building. To end our week we also have a ‘Boob ball’ Dodgeball tournament, in association with the SU, taking place on Sunday 9th. At 1pm we have a special presentation from our Boobette Organiser, Sophie, our stall being present at the Healthy Living Week on 12th February will follow this. Finally to round off the month we will be once again joining the SU in order to put on a special ‘Boob Night’ down at Academi for CoppaFeel! and FeBRAry. If you fancy a being a Boob Team Leader next year recruitment will start at the end of March, follow us on Facebook and Twitter - @coppafeelpeople for updates on how to apply! Visit coppafeel.org/uniboobteams to find out how to join a team or find out what your boob team is up to.

20TH FEBRUARY AT ACADEMI!

seren brings back...

20TH FEBRUARY AT ACADEMI!

This year marks the 6th anniversary of SEREN’S annual 90’s extravaganza! To prepare you for the night we thought we’d jam-pack this page with all the information you could ever desire and if you do find yourself wanting more then just check out the Facebook event: http://bit.do/seren90s In fact, you should check out that page anyway!

TICKETS!

£3

SONIC SERVICE This year tickets will be on sale at a variety of locations such as: SU RECEPTION • ACADEMI SHOP MOJOS • FOXY • SPARX We’ll also have a stall at Serendipity 2 (15th Feb) and in Main Arts foyer (Date TBC). And of course our special Sonic Service will return nearer to the date, where he will deliver straight to your door!

OUNT? FANCY A DISE’C VE ARRANGED SOME

HERE AT SEREN W U, OUR READERS! YO R FO S NT OU SC DI B FA TY ET PR

Mojos: 20% off costume hires Sparx: 10% off everything in store Foxy: 10% off with £10 spend

*DISCOUNT ONLY AVAILABLE WITH PRODUCTION OF A VALID TICKET, EACH TICKET MAY BE USED ONCE IN EACH PARTICIPATING STORE.

Seren | February Issue 2014

In Brief Game of Thrones: UK air date set

THE new season of Game of Thrones is set to air on Monday April 7th at 9PM on Sky Atlantic. The anticipated fourth season premieres in UK less than 24 hours after its US premiere. The new actors joining the cast this season include Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris. Gatiss is currently appearing in BBC’s Sherlock.

24: New series to be filmed in London SCENES for the new season will be shot in various locations in February. 24: Live Another Day is the first new series of the show for four years. Unlike the previous seasons where 24 episodes were shown in real-time representing an hour in Jack Bauer’s life, the new series will take place in only 12-hour long instalments. The series will premiere on Sky 1 in May.

Orders pour in for ‘Capaldi Crombie’ coats A FULL episode hasn’t been aired yet, but the 12th Doctor has already been a trend-setter. After the mixed reactions caused by the Doctor’s new look, fans rushed to Crombie’s London, Manchester and Edinburgh stores to find a matching jacket to the Doctor’s. Enquiries about made-to-measure versions with the Doctor’s red silk lining have also been made. A cost of a single tailor made jacket comes closer to 3000£.

Blackadder, show us the way!

by THOMAS BICKERDIKE

ichael Gove recently criticized this much loved sitcom about its depiction of the First World War and how “leftwing academics” were using it “to feed myths” and damage patriotism, by clearing Germany of any blame. How? It is a useful and also very amusing learning tool. Well it was for me… Thank you Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis. I will be honest and say that the first series, The Black Adder, was not a huge success. The funniest moment was in the first episode when Blackadder accidentally kills his uncle – Richard III. History is therefore re-written and instead of Henry Tudor taking to the throne we have Richard IV (Brian Blessed). Blackad-

der’s character is somewhat weak and feeble, nothing compared to the evil figure we have come to know and enjoy. Blackadder II was a greater success for many reasons: Ben Elton became a co-writer, Blackadder became more suave and evil and Baldrick became more stupid. In addition they brought in a completely new cast, including Miranda Richardson and Stephen Fry. The standout performance is that of Richardson as Queen Elizabeth, portraying her as spoilt and childish, yet also powerful and enjoying the sight of people having their heads cut off. Blackadder the Third has Blackadder as a butler serving the loudmouth Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie), who himself is a complete arse. The two best episodes from that series

were the ones where Baldrick becomes an MP (where we finally learn his first name) and when he accidentally burns Dr Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, leading to Blackadder having to rewrite the whole book overnight. The final series, Blackadder Goes Forth portrayed life in the trenches during the First World War. Ben Elton once said that if there was ever a subject that needed satire it is people going blindly to war. It is a hard topic to make a comedy about, yet they do so in a bold yet respectful way. In many ways, the final episode when they go over the top provides what is perhaps the greatest finale in TV history. It stops being a comedy in the last few minutes and becomes poignant. I once did a piece of year 9 course-

work about life in the trenches. The only research I did was watching the whole of Blackadder Goes Forth. I did not get the best mark for it, but at least my teacher had a good laugh and understood my humour. It is hard to believe that Blackadder is over 30 years old, but it is, in my opinion, the yardstick for any historical comedy. As Blackadder himself once said: “I want to be remembered when I’m dead. I want books written about me. I want songs sung about me. And then, hundreds of years from now, I want episodes of my life to be played out weekly at half past nine by some great heroic actor of the age.” So Mr Gove, are you saying that the war did or did not start because some bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry?

sister, Elena must hide a secret; she’s a werewolf. And not only that, but she’s the only female werewolf in existence. We soon discover just how much Elena is struggling to keep the wolf at bay in her desperate attempt to live a normal life and Bitten, based on The Women of the Otherworld book series by Kelley Armstrong, brings us into Elena’s life just as it’s about to be turned upside down once again. After a woman is found mauled in the woods the head of Elena’s old pack, Jeremy (Greg Bryk) calls everyone home in order to hunt down the rogue ‘mutt’ responsible. And of course, Elena is less than impressed by this news.

Eventually convinced by close friend, and werewolf, Logan (Michael Xavier), Elena returns to Stonehaven. This is where we meet the rest of the pack and even if you had nothing else nice to say about Bitten you cannot deny they’re an attractive bunch. It’s not long before it starts to become clear why Elena is so against returning home; the tall, brooding werewolf Clay (Greyston Holt). Whilst all is not revealed straight away it is easy to understand that there was a bad breakup between the two at some point in the past and it looks as though this could be quite a focal point in the first season. Whilst Bitten is not set to break any

records or new ground for that matter, the opening few episodes have thus far been enjoyable and intriguing. After years of seeing Laura Vandervoort as a fan favourite in smaller roles (Smallville, Haven, V) it’s great to see her at the helm of her own show. Her supporting cast aren’t half bad either! And as the obsessive Haven fan that I am it’s great to see her make an appearance beside Steve Lund once again. As of yet the show hasn’t been picked up by a UK channel but it’s looking likely that Syfy UK will end up broadcasting it later in the year.

Sky Atlantic the only channel showing new HBO shows in UK BSKYB has extended its exclusive deal with HBO running until 2020, preventing rival satellite operator BT from poaching HBO product. With the extended deal, new HBO programmes including True Detective and Looking, will continue to premiere exclusively on Sky.

Dancing on Ice returns? ACCORDING to head judge Robin Cousins, the show could return after the current series. Dancing on Ice is set to finish after this year’s finale after Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean announced they were quitting. “The format can work without Jayne and Christopher”, Cousins reportedly told the Daily Star Sunday, adding: “The question is whether they would want it to.” The show’s future remains open.

by LJ TAYLOR

n an industry where the vampire stock price has exploded in recent years it is not surprising to see yet another supernatural tv show hit our screens. Syfy’s new show Bitten, however, tosses vampires aside, to finally give us a breath of fresh air, in favour of werewolves. The show introduces to Elena Michaels (Laura Vandervoort), a Toronto photographer, who lives a seemingly perfect life along with her marketing mogul boyfriend, Philip McAdams (Paul Greene). But in TV land things are never quite as they seem, are they? Between shooting photos and lunching with Philip’s

February Issue 2014 | Seren

Season of friendship by NICOLA HOBAN

BC’s Sherlock fans waited somewhat patiently for two years to find out how Sherlock Holmes survived his fall in the season two finale, and when The Empty Hearse aired on New Year’s Day they were not entirely disappointed. For they were not given one explanation of how our hero survived his fall, but several – ranging from Sherlock bungee-jumping off of the roof, smashing through a window and kissing Molly Harper in a move that left several with weak knees, to Moriarty and Sherlock giggling and conspiring together to trick John

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Watson and then leaning in for another kiss. There was a lot of love in this episode. We even got a Gavin – sorry, I mean, Greg Lestrade and Sherlock hug. What I really loved about this season was the way that the writers really focused on John and Sherlock’s relationship. After having been separated for two years and with one believing that the other was dead, there was a lot of work that had to be done to fix this friendship. And while it seems that this season was directed by fanfiction (which fans have been assured that it was not), you could practically, and in my case literally, hear the fans screaming with

joy as we were given Sherlock and John hugs, a very heart-warming speech given by John to Sherlock as a bomb ticked down, and an incredibly touching best man’s speech by Sherlock to John. We even had them rescuing each other a couple of times – aww! This season had fans laughing, crying, screaming, reaching for the alcohol and for the most part loving it. I know a few people were not happy with how the season was being written, but personally I thought it was brilliant. The acting was superb – Benedict Cumberbatch was spectacular all the way through as usual but he particularly shined

with his performance in The Sign of Three, and Martin Freeman was the perfect Watson as always. Fans loved Watson’s love interest Mary Morstan, played by Freeman’s real-life partner Amanda Abbington who did a wonderful job, making us fall in love with her and then BAM! Plot twist: her dark past is revealed, she hurts our boys and yet we still love her and everything turns out rosy (we’re going to be getting a baby!). We saw the boys in action once again as they solved cases, and we were even given a very creepy villain in the form of Charles Augustus Magnussen, who may I say BLEURGH! Who licks other people’s faces and urinates

in their fireplace?! Exceptional acting from Lars Mikkelsen by the way, you made me dislike your character more than I did Moriarty. Speaking of which, I cannot wait to see what season four will bring, which is apparently going to be aired Christmas 2014 (tears of joy from Sherlockians worldwide). It will no doubt be thrilling and emotionally traumatising so there’s that to look forward to. I’ll just be here waiting patiently until Sherlock graces our screens once again – probably watching the show over and over until its back, if I’m being honest.

THE MOST LOVABLE 90’S COUPLES

Ida adores... ALLY AND BILLY FROM ALLY MCBEAL

Amy adores... CORY AND TOPANGA FROM BOY MEETS WORLD

Sara adores... MONICA AND CHANDLER FROM FRIENDS

Nicola adores... TJ AND SPINELLI FROM RECESS

Heather adores... KELLY AND ZACK FROM SAVED BY THE BELL

The relationship between Billy and Ally was truly the centrepiece of the Ally McBeal-series. Billy, Ally’s childhood sweetheart, suddenly dumped her right before they both started law school. Years later they ended up working in the same firm with Billy now a married man. To make things more complicated, Billy’s wife Georgia also joined the team later on. Even though Ally claims throughout the series to be totally over Billy, the source of many of her anxieties lies in Billy’s presence. Not including a momentary relapse Billy and Ally stay as quite innocent something-more-thanfriends until the bittersweet end.

Boy Meets World first aired in 1993 and from the moment they met we knew Cory and Topanga were meant to be. They were without a doubt the greatest television couple of the 90s, no other Disney Channel couple compares; that includes Troy and Gabriella. Topanga was a fabulous female role model, she takes the lead and is totally badass, which she shows by instigating the couples very first kiss in season one and then even proposes at graduation five seasons on. I can not wait for the spin off Girl Meets World and for more of my favourite television couple of the 90s.

Looking back on the 90s it’s fair to say that Friends gave us one of the greatest on-screen couples of all time – Monica Geller and Chandler Bing. Unlike the constant rollercoaster that was Ross and Rachel, for 10 years we watched Monica and Chandler’s relationship grow from awkward friends who were ‘never that close anyway’ to parents and partners. They gave us some deeply emotional moments of TV as well as the usual laughs from Monica’s proposal to discovering they couldn’t have kids - but they gave us plenty of laughs too and it was thanks to all of these moments that their relationship seemed as real as any in real life.

Any kid who watched Recess growing up cannot deny that they liked the pairing of TJ and Spinelli. These two cool kids were best friends who got up to some pretty wacky adventures with the rest of the gang, and while we never actually had them become boyfriend and girlfriend (I mean, they’re just kids) we did get several hints that they shared a mutual crush – heck, we even got a kiss surrounded by pretty pink rainbows in The Experiment episode, and while they acted grossed-out after the incident, I think we can all agree it was only an act to protect their tough reputations.

Zack Morris was the mischievous, blond haired protagonist who always seemed to be winding up principal Belding. Kelly was the classic, popular, hot girl. As far as Zack was concerned Kelly was the girl of his dreams, and he was always devising ways to win her over. This seemed odd to a young girl, because Zack was clearly the hottest boy at the school, and the subject of many first crushes - unless of course you preferred his jock friend Slater. The couple were likeable, despite playing very stereotypical roles of the hot guy and girl, and fans were rewarded with a marriage in Las Vegas in a later film.

Seren | February Issue 2014

FILM In Brief Best Original song nominee eliminated A NOMINEE for Best Original song at the Academy Awards has been disqualified for breaking campaigning rules. The song, “Alone yet not Alone” from the film of the same name, has been removed due to the songs composer, Bruce Broughton, alerting colleagues to the submission while the nominations were being considered.

Jesse Eisenberg cast as Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman JESSE Eseinberg, of The Social Network fame has been cast as Lex Luthor. Others who had been tipped as front runners for the role were Bryan Cranston and Joaquin Phoenix. Eisenberg won a best actor nomination for his work in The Social Network. Jeremy Irons has also been cast as Alfred, Batman’s butler and confidant.

Zac Efron Confirms talks for Star Wars: Episode VII ZAC Efron confirmed a desire to take a role in JJ Abrams revival of the classic space opera. It has not been confirmed as of yet, but the meeting has been confirmed by the actor himself. So far Jesse Plemons, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sullivan Stapleton, Liam Mcintyre and Simon Pegg have all been linked with the new episode in the franchise. Disney have announced a new trilogy after buying all the rights to the franchise for £2.49b.

London Film Critics awards sees 12 Years a Slave triumph STEVE Mcqueen’s 12 Years a Slave continued its march towards next months Academy Awards by winning Film of The Year, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Alfonso Cuarón won director of the year for Gravity, Cate Blacnhett was named actress of the year for her performance in Blue Jasmine and Judi Dench won British Actress of the year. John Hurt also presented Gary Oldman with an award for excellence in acting. The awards also saw Jason Solomons lead tributes to late actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

by JACK NICOL

he 90s kid is facing a small phenomenon, a mid life crisis, where the Internet looks back upon its childhood with wide eyed nostalgia. This belies a deeper political landscape. The 1990s was a time of mass change; the fall of the USSR, the failure of the first Gulf War and the Yugoslavian Civil War, mass-market globalization, multiculturalism and the rise of neo-liberalism. Great changes happened within new alternative media, grunge, hip hop and rave all found a place within pop culture, all aided by the rise of interconnectedness. The rise of popular media, especially that of home market consumables after the more austere 80s, came into its own. The era saw partisanship move from a political stage to consumer products - ‘Sega do what nintendon’t’. Advertising became increasingly important, as did buzzwords that really meant little, how many people knew what ‘blast processing’ was, or what ‘bits’ were? But dammit they were important. Celebrity culture became a cult, people cared about what, who, where and why, especially teen interest magazines like Sassy. Films became an especially important medium, seeing many important changes. Dogme 95 developed an ‘art house’ movement. Started by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinteberg, it rejected technology, piously maintaining the story and character above all.

Lone Survivor Release: Jan 12th

Rise of Animation

Titanic became the highest grossing film of all time grossing $1.8b worldwide. It was especially, though, a time for revolution in animation. 1995 saw the release of Pixar’s Toy Story. Being the first full length computer animated feature film revolutionized technology within the film industry at the time, but much more it changed how ani-

named the Disney renaissance, a time that restored public interest in Disney, relying upon mostly well known stories. Although the period started in 1989, it is mostly considered a 90s occurrence. What the Little Mermaid began was continued by a series of critically acclaimed films, including Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas,

TAKES APART THE UNIVERSE OF CINEMATIC VISUALS...ALLOWING US TO SEE IN A NEW WAY mated films were viewed to the extent that Roger Ebert of the Chicago SunTimes said that it “take[s] apart the universe of cinematic visuals, and put it back together again, allowing us to see in a new way.” Pixar continued this trend of not only animation, but also filmmaking in their own right, something not wholly considered possible. It appealed not only to children but due to a stellar script was able to appeal to any age group. The film never held back to really engage with actual emotion. As an example, think back to the point when Buzz Lightyear truly accepts that he is a toy. He stands on a landing, and he’s minuscule. Two minutes previous he had a massive ego, so assured of who, and what he was. The era also saw a revival of Disney. The period of the 90s has since been

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and ending in 1999 with Tarzan. Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first ever animated film to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination. This era of animation really gave some artistic credit back to animation after what was considered a dark age for the medium. Many other companies attempted to jump on the bandwagon and create revenue from animation. Unfortunately this didn’t work, and the finest example is The Iron Giant. A film that deserves more plaudits than it garnered at the time, a film by the same creator as the Incredibles, but lacked the backing from a recognized animation company. However towards the end of the 90s early 2000s Disneyfication became an issue. Many critics claimed that they were

Upcoming Releases Out of the Furnace Release: Jan 29th

Inside Llewyn Davis Release: Jan 24th

whitewashing plot for wacky characters, sidekicks and pop culture references. Mythology and history had been dumbed down and even to an extent editorialized for marketing purposes. Technology became a theme for film and anime in particular. If the 80s saw Japan come to terms with isolationism, social strife and nuclear bombings in Grave of The Fireflies and Akira, then the 90s saw anime deal with Japan in a new world, a technological world. None more so than Ghost in the Shell. The film is set in a cyberpunk future where technology and humanity have merged together. Police operative Motoko Kusanagi is a cybernetic AI, and throughout the films is unsure of what humanises her. The antagonist is a unique AI who challenges any assumption of what it is to be human, called the “puppet master”. The film is notable for influencing a good many Western Sci-fi films, not least The Matrix. Around a similar time Princess Mononoke came into existence, a story unlike any other from Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki. Set in the 16th century, although the trope of Humanity as the real monster is averted: the story actually goes to great lengths to avoid it and humanize its antagonists. It’s a film, and company that revolutionized film and the way we perceive animation as an art.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Release: Jan 16th

WHAT YOU EXPECT: Full-blooded American explosive action, functioning as a recruitment ad for the US military. Explosions and a heroic America triumph.

WHAT YOU EXPECT: Vengeance. Blood. The Deer Hunter and Snatch. Good performances from critically acclaimed actors. Blue-collar values, bad luck and Americana.

WHAT YOU EXPECT: Grimey cold blue colours, Coen Brothers, Folk Music and Bob Dylan. Snappy witty writing, held together by tight performances from regular faces.

WHAT YOU EXPECT: Boo Russia, boo. Old School spy films, and post 9/11 fear references. Flawless military research to a typically Tom Clancy standard.

What it is: A story of camaraderie, unison and friendship. Unsure of pro or anti war position of the filmmakers. First two acts are very solid if slightly a gore fetish. The visceral nature of the cinematography puts the viewer in place, but the film doesn’t quite know whether it wants you to be excited or appalled at the level and severity of the injuries. Brutal, but conflicted. For those who enjoyed Black Hawk Down it’s a good enjoyable film in a similar mould.

What it is: Pretentious hard luck story. It doesn’t fully come off, although the performances are to a very high standard. The films plot is a large exposition dump pushed along by convenience, and it relies far too heavily on the Deer Hunter. A large cast of high quality actors, Christian Bale in particular puts in a very good shift. The score is phenomenal, and easily the best part of the film.

What it is: Pretty much that. Coen Brothers are on key here. The whole cast is great, and the writing is fantastic. It deviates from a traditional Coen film consisting of a Noiresque convoluted plot, as there isn’t actually a plot to the film, but more a series of demoralising events. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a typically Coen character study. It’s beautifully melancholic and leaves a lingering thought in the mind, requiring a second viewing.

What it is: Like everything Tom Clancy’s name is attached to, this film is flawlessly researched, although that level of realism in the techniques and equipment does not quite stretch to its politics. It’s not bad, it’s a nostalgia filled, post 9/11 spy film, that relies on old enemies in Russia. Branagh’s performance as a tongue in cheek bad guy is enjoyable. The film is stuck in between Bond and Bourne. It’s nostalgic and fun, but nothing groundbreaking.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

by LJ TAYLOR

e’ve come a long way since the events of The Avengers. We’ve seen the effects the Battle of New York have had on billionaire superhero Tony Stark and we’ve seen the God of Thunder, Thor, try to forgive his tyrant brother Loki for his actions. This April, however, it’s time for the First Avenger to step up and defend his newfound home from yet another threat. The Winter Soldier marks Chris Evan’s third (technically fourth) outing in that star-spangled suit and the Cap’s second solo movie. The movie is set for release on 4th April and follows

Steve Rogers’ struggle to adapt to the contemporary world, two years after fighting off aliens in 2012’s Avengers. Still working for S.H.I.E.L.D., the man from the past finds himself in the middle of a mysterious new plot that puts the world at danger yet again. Partnering up with fellow agent Natasha Romanov (Scarlett Johansson) aka Black Widow, Cap must discover what is going on in time to save his home. The movie sees the introduction of popular Marvel character The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) who must assist Captain America and Black Widow. Captain America’s second instalment sees our hero pitted against possibly the deadliest assassin to ever live;

FILM

The Winter Soldier. The antagonist is set to be a lot more deadly than just a master assassin out to kill Cap, he is Rogers’ best friend Bucky brainwashed and turned into a tool to kill. Whilst trailers and photos thus far have yet to reveal or insinuate the Winter Soldier’s true identity it feels as though it is going to play a huge role in the emotional aspect of the movie. Once we discover it’s Bucky, that is. The movie, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, will also see the return of Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Coby Smulders returning as Agent Maria Hill. It also sees newcomer Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D leader. Hayley At-

by NICOLA HOBAN

merican Hustle was one of the most anticipated films to come out in recent months, and it’s no wonder. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Robert de Niro, the film was always going to be a good watch. Being a huge fan of each of these actors, I decided to go and see the flick in the cinema. I wasn’t prepared for how long it was going to go on for – two hours and 30 minutes or so – which is partially my fault for not checking the film length beforehand. However, I didn’t really mind the length because

Philip Seymour Hoffman Obituary by BECCI JAMESON

hilip Seymour Hoffman has died at the age of 46 of a suspected drug overdose. His body was found after a friend alerted the emergency services who arrived swiftly at Hoffman’s home in Greenwich Village, New York. A spokesman for the New York police said investigators found two small bags which were suspected of containing heroin. Hoffman first became addicted to drugs and alcohol shortly after leaving the Tisch School of the Arts. At the age of 22 the actor entered rehab and was clean for 23 years until a relapse in 2013. He was known as a unique and intriguing actor who went above and beyond to portray a wide range of dysfunctional and sometimes downright unlikable characters. These roles have been well received by critics,

viewers and especially at the awards. Hoffman was nominated four times for Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar and won in 2005 for his role as real life US author Truman Capote. The actor described the role in the New York Times as ‘like being some kind of detective where you’re on the search for a secret that will unlock the character.’ Hoffman’s breakthrough came in the nineties with roles in The Big Lebowski (1997), Boogie Nights (1998) and guilty pleasure, Twister (1996), where his penchant for the strange and eccentric became apparent. His most memorable roles include Along Came Polly (2004) as a rom-com sidekick, The Talented Mr. Ripley (2000) opposite an unsettled Matt Damon and The Boat That Rocked (2009) as a pirate radio DJ known only as The Count. Hoffman most recently starred in Catching Fire; the sequel to The Hunger Games. This had gained

him a fresh set of fans with his portrayal of cryptic Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee and was set to star in the next two instalments of the series. According to Hollywood Reporter, the actor has finished filming for the first part of Mockingjay and only had a week’s filming left for the second. Jennifer Lawrence described him as “such an incredible actor”. Hoffman’s The Ides of March co-star, George Clooney said: “There are no words... It’s just terrible.” Kevin Spacey expressed his loss in this tweet: “A tragedy to lose as supremely talented an actor as Philip Seymour Hoffman. An unspeakable loss for film, theatre & all who knew him. RIP.” Hoffman is survived by his partner, costume designer Mimi O’Donnell and their three children, Cooper, Tallulah and Willa.

well and Dominic Cooper will also reprise their roles from The First Avenger as love interest Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, father of Iron Man. The pair appeared in the last movie during the 40s and it’s unclear whether they are going to be subjected to flashback duty for The Winter Soldier. The second trailer for the film was released this week and once again shows just how action packed a ride it is set to be. The First Avenger was fun and a great origins story for the Cap, all the patriotism seems to have seeped away though ready for a much darker sequel. Perhaps one of the most interesting and exciting things about the film is that it rarely relies on vis-

ual effects. The Russo brothers’ ethos is apparently that if they can build it and a stunt can be done then it will be. Hopefully this will give us a much grittier, fast-paced and realistic movie in comparison to the CGI ridden Thor sequel of last year. We’ve still a few months to go and plenty more time for things to be revealed but so far Captain America: The Winter Soldier is shaping up to be one of, if not the, best Marvel film to come our way. In fact, it went down so well with Marvel execs that Captain America 3 has already been given the go ahead with Chris Evans and the Russo brothers at the helm.

it was such a good film! Christian Bale had you laughing within the first minute as he tried to fix his hideous combover and flaunted his rather large beer belly – not the most attractive version of Bale, I must say. The plot of the film itself follows con man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), who with his alluring partner Sydney Prosser (Adams), is forced to work for - let’s just say it – crazy FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper), as he tries to bring down corrupt politicians through the art of a good con, including tricking family and community-orientated man, Mayor Carmine Polito (Renner). The film also has a short Robert de Niro appearance with him fulfilling

the role of a hit man for the mob, and Jennifer Lawrence playing Irving’s definitely deranged wife Rosalyn Rosenfeld. This film is outrageous, shocking, and although it is described as a drama and not a comedy, there’s no denying that it is hilarious – from the 70s clothes, to the characters, to the situations they get themselves into. Each of the performances is superb, and yet while I adore every one of these actors, Jennifer Lawrence really shines for me. What can I say, I love her. A film made for all audiences (as long as you’re above 18), when it’s released on DVD it will certainly be one that is going in my film collection.

A Life in Numbers

1 Best Actor Oscar for Capote, 2005 3 Supporting Actor Oscar nominations 51 feature film releases, 1991-2014 29 dramas, 21 comedies, 1 animation 3 real life characters played: Lester Bangs, Truman Capote, Art Howe

Seren | February Issue 2014

MUSIC In Brief Radio One’s Big Weekend in Glasgow BBC RADIO 1’s annual Big Weekend will be held at Glasgow Green. The event will take place between 24th-25th May; the first confirmed artists are Rita Ora and Paolo Nutini. The news was announced on Nick Grimshaw’s Breakfast Show live from BBC Scotland. The Big Weekend is now in its 11th year and is Europe’s largest free ticketed music event. In the build-up to the event, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Learning will open up Radio 1’s Academy from 10th16th May, to inspire local 16 to 19 year olds. It will include a series of radio shows, master classes and Q&As. Over 60,000 tickets will be available across the two events.

The Who to Reunite ROGER Daltrey and Pete Townshend, bandmates in The Who, are to reunite this year to make a new album. Daltrey told NME, when announcing the line-up for the annual Teenage Cancer Trust gigs which he is curating, that Townshend has been working on new material. He said: “Pete’s got hundreds of songs, so the only question is whether we get around to it, but he wants to make an album and I’m always ready and raring to go. We’ll see.” It will be The Who’s 12th album, their first since ‘Endless Wire’ in 2006.

Beyoncé: Beyoncé by AMY BLACKWELL

eyoncé surprised fans everywhere on 12th December last year when she released her album ‘Beyoncé’ on iTunes without any prior advertising. The album contains fourteen tracks and eighteen visual accompaniments, including bonus videos; ‘Ghost’, ‘Yonce’ and ‘Grown Woman’ as well as credits. Other artist featured include Jay-Z, Drake and Frank Ocean. “Perfection is a disease of a nation.” The message behind her new album is one that is incredibly relevant and hugely important. The songs on this new album are unlike most that she has produced before; presenting current issues of social poverty, equality and sexual discrimination, marriage and even

post-natal depression with the certain element of Beyoncé “swag” that she is known and loved for. For this I applaud her. This is Beyoncé taking herself in a new direction; this is her making a stand towards all expectations of herself and women everywhere. This is not her writing to sell. In terms of musical quality some of the tracks - as on any album - can become tedious to listen to, even though there is an important message; ‘Haunted’ for example is over six minutes long but its contents are crucial to the albums message - “working nine ‘till five just to stay alive.” Some songs disappointed me, for example ‘Mine’ and ‘Drunk in Love’ from which I expected a little more musically due to their featuring artists; Drake and Jay-Z respectively. Though that isn’t to say

they’re not good songs. Other titles appeal more, my particular favourites are ‘Pretty Hurts’ and ‘No Angel’ but then maybe my inner feminist is biased. The gem of the album has to be ‘Flawless’ which features Nigerian feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking at a TED talk about female socialisation and male-female inequality. The track recognises the work and success of women telling listeners to “bow down” and “don’t think I’m just his little wife” whilst simultaneously mocking the notion of “flawless” women “I woke up like this / We flawless... ladies, tell 'em.” The mixture of audio-clips and musical talent makes the song great to listen to but the video is what makes it, without Beyoncé’s slightly mad facial expressions the ironic element of the track could be lost.

The visual side of the album is no other word but stunning.The amount of thought and precision that has gone into each video is evident, there is not a single throwaway among them. The video to the more “poppy” track ‘Blow’ in particular is diverse, interesting and plain gorgeous. The album by no means lives up to expectations of Beyoncé, not one song is the same as the one before and each has an element any woman can relate to. NME describes the album’s style as “dark, post-dubstep tinted future R&B” which I feel describes its musical aspect perfectly. As the lady says herself the album is for “all the grown women out there” and raises and inverts issues faced by us everyday. Reign on Queen B!

Peppers to headline Isle of Wight Festival RED Hot Chili Peppers are set to headline this summer’s Isle of Wight Festival, held at Seaclose Park from 12th-15th June. They will perform on the Main Stage on Saturday 14th June, with Biffy Clyro headlining Friday 13th June. Other acts on the bill will include The 1975, Calvin Harris and Rudimental. It will be the Peppers only live performance in the UK this year. The Peppers recently performed their classic hit ‘Give It Away’ at the Super Bowl half-time show with Bruno Mars at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the build-up, they denied rumours that they would cover Led Zeppelin’s ‘Dazed & Confused’.

Bye Bye Bieber? THE White House has said it will respond to a petition demanding the deportation of Justin Bieber from the United States. The petition currently has over 200,000 signatures, meaning it will be reviewed by White House staff. On 31st January, Bieber’s private jet was detained and searched after police officers reportedly smelled marijuana. Earlier that week, he was charged with assaulting a limo driver and recently faced charges for drunk driving and street racing; he was later released on bail. His house was searched recently after he allegedly threw eggs at a neighbour’s house - the result is still unclear.

by CHARLOTTE WRIGHT

You Me at Six: Cavalier Youth

ou Me at Six achieved their first UK number one in the album charts this month with their brand new album, ‘Cavalier Youth’. Released on January 27th the band hit the top 40 charts with two singles off the album, “Lived a Lie” and “Fresh Start Fever”. The band sticks with their genre of pop punk by the way of their catchy riffs, occasional gang vocals and inspiring lyrics sung by frontman Josh Franceschi. The Surrey-based band say that the album title means ‘carefree youth’

and is about the band’s growth into adulthood. They have a more mature outlook on life now they’re into their twenties. As the lyrics in ‘Fresh Start Fever’ suggest, “Welcome to the future, dream a little bigger”, the band intend to carry on storming the charts and selling out venues. This is also suggested in ‘Hope For The Best’ with the line, “You gotta keep the dream alive, or else it will die.” The band is very much keeping their dream alive. The album seems to tell a story of youth, maturity and living without regret. Cavalier Youth seems to pro-

voke different emotions throughout, from uplifting to slow and mellow. Not all reviews of Cavalier Youth have been positive, with some slating You Me at Six by declaring they are a band that only “screaming sixteen year old girls would enjoy”, and the album does gain interest from young listeners, Cavalier Youth is definitely not just aimed at their teenage fans but also at the twenty-plus range and is easily relatable. Best songs off this album: Fresh Start Fever, Room to Breathe, Hope For The Best and Wild Ones. For fans of: Paramore, Lawson, DON

BROCO, Mayday Parade and McFly. 8/10

February Issue 2014 | Seren

MUSIC

Spice Girls vs. Backstreet Boys

Two of the 90s’ most infamous bands, but who was better? We let Sara, our Health and Beauty Editor, and Nic, our Deputy Editor for content, put their cases forward...

Green Day: Dookie by SARA WILLIAMS

o, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want! In terms of song lyrics no one can deny that while they may not be profound in the 17 years since their release they have certainly become iconic. Between 1996 and 2000, the Spice Girls conquered the charts all over the world with their feel good songs and influenced fashion throughout the late ‘90s. They came along when the British charts were being dominated by boy bands such as Boyzone and Take That and injected it with some much needed ‘girl power’. When the Spice Girls first came to prominence I was 6 years old, and I can admit with no shame that their debut album ‘Spice’ was the first album I ever owned. Growing up in the

late ‘90s, the Spice Girls had a huge influence on me and my friends; the diversity of the band meant that no matter who you were you could identify with one of them (growing up I always thought I was Sporty Spice; it turns out I’m not, I’m Posh!) meaning no one was excluded from being their fan. The Spice Girls were always about projecting positive messages for females, be this in how you looked or what you wanted to do with your life. Yes they were often a little bit sexy for the audience they had, (and nearly 20 years on it’s quite funny thinking about myself singing innocently along to ‘2 Becomes 1’), but they also taught many young girls to embrace who they were no matter if you’re a Baby, Sporty, Ginger, Posh or Scary Spice!

by NICOLA HOBAN

h, the Backstreet Boys. One of the most loved boy bands of the 90s – and let’s just say it, there were a lot of them. But these guys will always be one of my favourite boy bands – my walls were plastered with posters of the band and its members and I think it’s fair to say that my sisters and I drove our parents nuts playing their songs repeatedly. With hits such as ‘Everybody’, ‘I Want It That Way’ and ‘As Long As You Love Me’, plus heart throbs in the shape of Nick Carter, these guys were destined for the boy band Hall-of-Fame – I’m pretty sure there is one, filled up with bands like Boyzone, Take That, A1 and Westlife. The Backstreet Boys will always live on in the hearts of young girls and

after forming their group in 1993, the band are still going strong in recent years – they released an album just last year entitled ‘In A World Like This’. So while bands like Boyzone are coming back for a reunion, let us not forget that the Backstreet Boys never went away, even at a time when boy bands were considered dead and they probably should have done. So while bedroom walls may no longer be wallpapered with band memorabilia, it’s fair to say that you gotta love ‘em, most likely as a guilty pleasure.

Steps and Chesney Hawkes Where are they now?

During the 90s, we listened to them and loved them. Then they faded into obsecurity. Nowadays when you here hear them, you probably wonder “Where are they now?” Well, here’s what’s happened to two of them...

laire, Faye, Lisa, Lee and, of course, “H”. Steps’ first major hit was ‘5, 6, 7, 8’ in 1997, which has received some longevity. Do you remember your teachers at primary school getting up on stage and dancing to it wearing cowboy hats, wanting you all to join in? That only reached #14 in the charts. Record producer/songwriter Pete Waterman admitted he wanted to create a modern version of ABBA. Their best chart position was #1 in January 1999 for their cover of the Bee Gees’ ‘Tragedy’. However, they split up on Boxing Day 2001. After time apart from each other,

Steps reunited in a 4-part documentary for Sky Living in July 2011. The following year, they released a new album “Light Up the World” and their own fragrance. They took a break last year after touring to concentrate on solo projects. Faye took to musical theatre; Claire designed her fashion range and has begun work on a solo album; Lee has been running marathons and managing his wife’s band; H appeared in the Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, as well as pantomime, and recently deleted his Twitter account (you all know why). Plans for a new album and tour for this year have yet to be announced.

n 1991 at the age of 19, Chesney Hawkes became a household name with his appearance in Buddy’s Song and his one-hit wonder ‘The One and Only’ which spent five weeks at number one. Unfortunately he was unable to achieve the same success with his other songs. ‘I’m a Man Not a Boy’ peaked at #27; his 2005 hit ‘Another Fine Mess’ peaked at #48. So, where is the one and only Chesney Hawkes now? Well, in 2009 he appeared in a cherry picker over the Celebrity Big Brother house and everyone had to worship him. He also featured in Let’s Dance For Com-

ic Relief in 2011, as well as a number of programmes on ITV; he fractured his ankle in preparation for Dancing on Ice in 2012 and was replaced by Chico. He received criticism that year from the people of Hastings after they claimed he was not famous enough to open a Christmas ice rink; they were expecting Suggs from Madness. He now writes material for other musicians; last year he released a new single, ‘Caught Up In Circles’, and performed at the Rewind Festival. He is also involved with a number of charities. He also supposedly performs at University Freshers weeks. Ahem…

by THOMAS BICKERDIKE

he punk scene in the 90s was dominated early on by Nirvana, but after the release and success of their second studio album ‘Kerplunk’ in 1992, record labels were starting to pay attention to Green Day. They eventually agreed to sign with Reprise Records after a good connection with representative Rob Cavallo. This led to their major record label debut – the internationally successful ‘Dookie’. The first single released, ‘Longview’, begins with a bass line from Mike Dirnt which is somewhat mesmerising. This continues throughout the song, which is interrupted by loud bursts from Billie Joe Armstrong. It concentrates on topics including boredom, masturbation and smoking cannabis, as demonstrated with lyrics such as: “No time for the motivation/Smoking my inspiration”. ‘Welcome to Paradise’ is all about the band’s experience of leaving home, but moving into an abandoned house in their hometown Oakland, CA. The style is as if Billie Joe is writing home to his mother. The main hit single on this album is, of course, ‘Basket Case’, still one of their most popular songs. It is inspired by Billie Joe’s anxiety problems, including consulting a shrink and a whore. He famously said: “The only way I could know what the hell was going on was to write a song about it.” The song begins with Billie Joe playing guitar and singing, before an explosive bit of drumming from Tré Cool. The fourth single released was ‘When I Come Around’, supposedly about a breakup between Billie Joe and his girlfriend Adrienne Nesser. It has a simple iconic riff running throughout. This is one of the songs they played at Woodstock, which led to an infamous mud fight. ‘Dookie’ is only 40 minutes long, but it was enough to cement Green Day as an act to be aware of. In ’95, it won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. Other notable hits of theirs during the 90s included ‘Hitchin’ a Ride’, ‘Redundant’ and ‘Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)’. Their next three albums did not achieve the same success that ‘Dookie’ did, but they would reignite their popularity in 2004 with ‘American Idiot’.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

BOOKS BOOK NEWS Charlie Chaplin CHARLIE Chaplin’s only novel is being published for the first time. Footlights is the prequel to his famous film Limelight and follows the alcoholic clown Calvero. The novella is being published in a collection with some of Chaplin’s screen writing by an Italian film restoration company called Cineteca di Bologna. The book is dark and carries a sense of nostalgia according to Guardian journalist Alison Flood. The book is said to deal more with the relationship between artist and audience than the film and with the meaning of true art.

Seren Reviews: Perks of Being a Wall Flower

The Dream of the Celt

The Bell Jar

by CHARLOTTE FAYE WRIGHT

by WYATT WARNER

by AILISH BUMPUS

The Last Llanelli Train

Austen Snippet SCHOLARS have found a sample of Jane Austen’s handwriting and are attempting to figure out what it means. The text is on a small scrap of paper and looks to be a sermon or a prayer, perhaps copied for the author’s brother Reverend James Austen and was discovered in a first edition copy of ‘The Memoirs of Jane Austen’ written by nephew James Edward Austen Leigh. The text is believed to say “Men may get into the habit of repeating words of our Prayers by rote, perhaps without thoroughly understanding.” Which scholars believe to have influenced her novel ‘Mansfield Park’. The snippet will be on display at the Jane Austen House Museum at the end of this year to celebrate the bicentenary of Mansfield Park.

Library Hardship CHILDREN’S author Lemony Snicket whose real name is Daniel Handler has said that “librarians have suffered enough.” He will thus be funding The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity, an award of $3,000 to remind people of the hard work librarians do daily and to emphasise the importance of librarians. “It seems like a better way to channel my money to librarians than my previous strategy, which was incurring exorbitant late fees,” said the author. This comes after widespread book banning across the US which has included Snicket’s own ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events” for apparent violence and horror.

THE Perks of Being a Wallflower

MARIO Vargas Llosa tells the true

by TOM EMLYN WILLIAMS

KEEPING my mental health in check

ROBERT Lewis’ 2005 novel, the first

follows intelligent freshman Charlie

story of Roger Casement in The Dream

has been difficult, but something that

of a trilogy, is a noir affair that is part

through his first year of high school.

of the Celt: a book whose themes deal

helped get me through things was the

nightmare and part burlesque. The di-

Charlie befriends a group of seniors

frequently with nationalism, written

writing of Sylvia Plath; particularly her

lapidated South-Walian protagonist,

who introduce him to music, partying

by a Peruvian about an Irishman work-

novel The Bell Jar. The Bell Jar is a semi-

Robin Llewellyn, is an alcoholic pri-

and drugs. The book leads up to dis-

ing in Africa for the British. Roger

biographical book about a girl called

vate investigator that spends the dura-

covery of Charlie’s mysterious past.

Casement was a British consul in the

Esther Greenwood, who is interning

tion of the narrative ostensibly work-

In this classic coming of age book,

early 20th century, sent to places like

at a popular magazine in New York

ing on a case, but really drinking his

Charlie addresses his letters to an

in Africa at a time when the Western

who becomes increasingly depressed.

way round the seedier pubs of Bristol.

anonymous friend, which makes us

world was angling to add them to their

Through troubles with her family, her

The stock tropes of Chandler-esque

realise how much of a sensitive char-

empires. His struggles with his part in

social life and her love life she feels

crime fiction form the basis of the

acter he is.

the system and the idea that his team

detached from a life that seems to be

novel’s framework, but a deeper exis-

The book identifies with the strug-

might not be the good guys after all

rushing by her. As if she were stuck

tential angst lurks under the expected

gles of teenage life, addressing issues

culminated in his role in the infamous

under a glass bell jar.

trilby, trench coat, and incisive quips

of depression and sexual abuse. The

Easter Rising. Then, with his secrets

I actually read this whilst on holiday,

book has been criticized for its heavy

revealed and his allies gone, Casement

which is far from the trashy novels I

storylines being too much as it is fo-

fought for his life against a nation to

usually indulge in on the beach, but I

The plot goes to some very dark

that we expect from a hard-boiled crime novel.

was enthralled by the emotional and

places - Robin is chewed up and al-

The recent film based on the book

When reading some of the horrors

enchanting language. Of the many

most destroyed both by the conse-

is a completely different point of view

that Roger Casement had to see and

negatives thoughts that I have felt, the

quences of his own actions and by the

and the book deals with a lot more

experience, there were times that I

book expertly describes each and eve-

sleazy underbelly of Bristol itself.

troubles than the film actually reveals.

almost had to stop because they were

ry one of them.

Although the book starts off a little

so intense, but the book kept me en-

cused at teenagers and young adults.

which he had once been a hero.

He progresses from pint to pint to-

The narrative itself speeds up and

wards the narrative’s ruinous conclu-

slows down with the mood of Esther.

sion, nihilistically excusing his vices.

The book tells of Casement’s entire

There isn’t a single dull chapter. It is

Despite all this, there is an undeniable

life; from the wide-eyed optimism of

neither positive nor negative about the

humour present, albeit of a very black

This compelling read is full of

his first journey to the cynical pride

subject of depression and social anxi-

sort, which stops the darkness from

depth and emotion and dilemmas

of his last, the reader identifies with

ety, but clearly lays out the reality of

becoming too overbearing.

that Charlie has to face throughout.

the man’s growth and struggles and

these illnesses, describing many situ-

Robin somehow never stops resist-

slow it very much picks up half the way through making it a difficult one to put down.

thralled.

roots for him as much as for any Harry

ations that were quite uncomfortable

ing the forces against him, so he is not

For fans of: The Fault in Our Stars

Potter or Bella Swan. A historical fig-

to read.

an entirely hopeless character.

and Looking for Alaska by John Green,

ure Roger Casement may be, but The

I would recommend this classic to

The novel is an entertaining, unique

The Catcher in the Rye By J. D. Salinger

Dream of the Celt is anything but a his-

anyone struggling through feelings

exploration of noir tropes, with an

and Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.

tory book.

that they cannot explain.

ironic edge, and is well worth a read.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

BOOKS

Seren’s Bedtime Stories

BOOKS THAT SHAPED OUR CHILDHOOD... The Famous Harry Potter Five by STEPHANIE YEABSLEY I HAVE a confession…It will haunt me for my life that I didn’t begin to read the Harry Potter books until the first film in 2001. However, The Philosopher’s Stone was published in 1997 making it a 90s book and I believe that as 90s kids we are the “Harry Potter” generation. Harry Potter has become a worldwide phenomenon. I feel as if I grew up with Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest. There was nothing I wanted more than to wake up in Hogwarts, drink pumpkin juice and learn how to do magic. The Harry Potter books are so popular with adults and kids alike, that I doubt it is just me who is still waiting for their Hogwarts acceptance letter…

Roald Dahl

by NICOLA HOBAN

by ELEANOR HIRST

ENID Blyton was one of my favourite authors growing up. ‘The Famous Five’ series are the first books I remember reading. I’ve always loved reading, and I started this series at a particularly young age. This series constructed my early childhood years, where I was either immersed in the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne and George with their dog Timmy, or pretending to have adventures of my own around the house. I mean, what little kid didn’t want to solve crimes, hunt for treasure, and pretty much get up to all sorts of mischievous antics? While I read a lot of books growing up, ‘The Famous Five’ will always be one of my favourites.

I HAVE fond memories of my childhood and one author that really shaped my love of reading (which is helpful, me being a literature student) was Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl: Britain’s beloved author of the BFG, The Twits and Fantastic Mr. Fox. I remember having a large combined brick of a book with all of Roald Dahl’s stories, which I still have today, that I used to read over and over again. Looking back on his stories, he conveys quite important moral messages, for example the clichéd, but important ‘it’s okay to be different’ message; the ‘standing up for what you believe in’ message and also the ‘it doesn’t matter what you look like’ message.

Tracy Beaker by EMILY HOULSTON-JONES I DIDN’T just like Tracy Beaker. I wanted to be Tracy Beaker. I can’t imagine how my mum must have felt when I asked if I could be a foster kid “because it seems fun.” Being a foster child seemed like nothing but an endless sequence of shenanigans and trips to McDonalds. It wasn’t until I reread the books that I realised that I had glossed over Tracy’s feelings of abandonment and loneliness. I mainly focused on how much McDonalds she ate, and all the fun dares she did. My mum disapproved of McDonalds, and my brother’s dares tended to involve me being very quiet while he did his homework. To this day, she still holds a special place in my heart.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by AMY BLACKWELL I WAS always the child that liked the weird things, my favourite animals was the octopus and I had a strange obsession with the taste of pritt stick. So it comes as no surprise to me that Lemony Snicket’s oddly morbid ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ ended up being one of my favourite books series of all time. The dry melancholic language was right up my sarcastic-minded alley. For me the series had just the right amount of adventure, humour, mystery and creepy uncles. I loved and cherished all of the books by my favourites are ‘The Ersatz Elevator’ and ‘The Penultimate Peril’. I have read and re-read the series countless times. I love it.

Seren | February Issue 2014

FASHION FOR THE LADIES

River Island - £40.00

HANDBAGS ours you are going to need in order for them to co-ordinate with your clothes. I would personally recommend that you buy a range of different bags in different colours so that you can change them daily to suit what you are wearing. However, we are students and some bags can be extremely expensive. Therefore, it is a good idea to buy a couple of bags that are versatile.

By JAMES HOLMAN

was inspired to do this article by my girlfriend who I recently spent the day searching for a handbag with… at nausea. There are so many different types of bag, in so many different colours that it became immediately apparent to me that it would be quite easy to get this wrong.

Black is a great bag colour to coordinate with as it goes with so many other colours. It always looks sophisticated and never goes out of fashion. A woman’s wardrobe just wouldn’t be a woman’s wardrobe without it.

Firstly, small handbags that barely fit your phone and purse in, let alone any uni work are not what's in at the moment. It's all about a big handbag. You know what I mean, the ones that you have to search through tirelessly to find your phone before it stops ringing.

look cheap and wear easily. If you are feeling more adventurous, then why not go for a bolder colour? Burgundy, blue, purple and cream are all great choices when it comes to bags, but be sure to be wearing colours that work with the bag colour, or else you may start to look like you are at a UV rave. Tip: To avoid having to route through your bags to find your phone, just make sure you buy a bag with a pocket designed to stop this problem.

Brown is another colour that works well with soft, neutral tones whilst providing you with an elegant appearance. A dark tan colour would be preferable as lighter browns can

Another important thing to consider with handbags is what col-

Debenhams - £55.00

Debenhams - £45.00

Debenhams - £65.00 River Island - £30.00 LADIES JEWELLERY By BECCI JAMESON

from any poor imitations.

e all have that perfect piece of jewellery that goes with you no matter where you are or what you are wearing. Whether it is understated or over the top, genuine or fake, chunky or petite, a lovely piece of jewellery can really lift your mood and your outfit. Jewellery often has a very personal connection to the wearer, things such as family heirlooms and items with emotional value behind them. Some women prefer to wear a lot of jewellery while others are fine with small studs; it is all about individual expression. Accessories don’t have to break the bank either. There are many great retailers in Bangor that offer unique jewellery for everyone. It is important to get a good price but also be aware of anything too cheap as it will degrade quickly and won’t last. It is better to go for something within a larger price range to get away

brought about even more chunky jewellery, this time with an almost primary school theme, Accessorize are offering a Make Your Own necklace made of brightly coloured letters. At £12.00, it does seem a little expensive but it is only a little fun.

Rings

Chunky rings are always good to add to any outfit and are usually very affordable. Gold coloured is a great

Bracelets

Bracelets are also remaining chunky but the thin plain bracelet is a favourite of mine. Topshop offers a thin cuff for £6.50 with gold col-

Earrings

Necklaces

Personally, I prefer a small, understated necklace which can be incredibly versatile. Such as the black and gold flower pearl rope necklace from New Look, at £5.99 it is very affordable and adds a bit of class to any outfit. Even plainer than that is a chain necklace from H & M which is a simple gold coloured chain for £3.99. 2014 has

The best thing about earrings is the diversity; there are simple studs to face-framing earrings. Studs can be easy to accessorise and are great as gifts, studs usually come in threes which is handy for women with several lobe piercings. Matalan offer three pairs of studs for £5.00 such as this black and silver look set. Aztec is still going strong and these silver face-framers from H & M lengthen the face for as little as £3.99.

substitute for real gold which can be overpriced. New Look offer four tribal designs for £7.99, the rings are handmade and come in a variety of sizes. For something a little more bespoke, Accessorize have a Sterling Silver Sirroco Mop Ring which is a little more expensive at £12.00 but you do pay for the quality. The ring contains a beautiful opaque stone with simple carving around the edge. A classic.

ouring. While New Look offer something more eye catching, a gold filigree cuff will put you back £6.99, it is available in black, coral and cream, it has a leather look finish and will add to the perfect chic outfit.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

FASHION

FOR THE GENTS MEN’S SHOES By JAMES HOLMAN

o it's a new year, you have received your new clothes for Christmas and wear them with such pride that you don't even consider what's going on down below... I mean your feet.

The shoes that are being worn on men's feet in Bangor are such an issue that I felt compelled to write an article about it. Now I don't blame them, after all, Paris, the capital of fashion is renowned for the choice of men's shoes being famously bad. So let's get one up on them shall we? Now I don't care what Versace says, running trainers are not to be worn with jeans. If you are a fan of a more comfortable shoe, then pumps from Topman or River Island are as good as any. This goes the same for hiking boots, Bangor is indeed positioned on a steep hill, but this isn't Snow-

don, trekking boots should be saved for the mountains and not worn as a daily shoe. Throw some inexpensive pumps on and some slim jeans and you will instantly look and feel more up to date. If you are a fan of looking smarter when you are in Uni or walking around the town then leather, (or what looks like leather for us students) is what you are looking for. Chelsea boots are the best shoe at the moment and I live by that statement. They look very smart and are perfect for keeping your feet warm now that it is so cold and wet. Black and brown can be interchanged to go with almost anything in your wardrobe, just make sure that you are either wearing slim or skinny jeans with them as bootcut or straight trousers engulf the boot and you want it to be seen. I am also a big fan of suede Chelsea boots, these aren't completely appropriate for Bangor as the weather is so wet that suede can get damaged

but I manage to find the time to wear them so I am sure you will too. Again, black and brown suede look the best and go with the most.

Topman - £32.00

If you don't like boots then have a look at getting some new brogues or plain smart shoes, River Island have a great brown pair in at the moment which can be worn with black or dark blue trousers. Otherwise, opt for black if you want to look smart. So there we are, get yourself to the high-street and treat yourself to some new shoes. Remember there's no such thing as too overdressed.

River Island - £50.00

Topman - £32.00

River Island - £45.00 River Island - £55.00 PRINTED T-SHIRTS By JAMES HOLMAN

rinted T-shirts are the easiest to wear for us chaps. Whether you like a plain white top with a small print on it or more colour, there are so many to choose from and it is difficult to make mistakes when it comes to how you wear them.

Topman - £18.00

With this in mind, I know that I don't have to tell you how to wear these tops, therefore I am just going to suggest ideas that I find work well.

If however, you are wearing denim jeans or coloured chinos, then you need to take more care. A white print top will always work but it isn't very adventurous. Why not try something a little more bold pairing denim jeans with a grey or red top? This will add more depth to your wardrobe and you won't look like just one of the crowd in Bangor. For chinos, it really depends on the colour of trousers that you have chosen. If you have a specific colour in mind, then search the internet to see what colours go with what, this is a great way to work your wardrobe. Here is a selection of my favourite printed T-shirts at the moment:

If you are a fan of black skinny jeans, then there isn't a printed tee that you could pick up that won't work with them. White tops will create a current monochromatic look and navy blue will give your look a sophisticated edge, but with such versatile trousers, anything goes.

Topman - £18.00

New Look - £9.99

River Island - £18.00 River Island - £22.00

Seren | February Issue 2014

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

GET THE 90S LOOK... KELLY KAPOWSKI by

SARA

WILLIAMS

elly was the quintessential 90s girl next door. Whether she was unintentionally making Zack and Slater fight for her, leading the Bayside cheerleaders, or just standing around in those corridors that they hung out in a lot, Kelly always looked stunning. One of the key aspects of Kelly’s looks was her hair. To get the full volume look of the 90s… 1. Begin by putting a volume mousse all the way through damp hair. I recommend Garnier Fructis Style Big Vo l u m e Mouss e

GINGER SPICE

ften given the nickname of ‘Sexy Spice’ due to her stage outfits, pair this beauty look with a Union Jack dress to have the boys ‘zigazig ahing’ all night. 1. Apply primer and foundation. Geri had light skin so you may need to think about applying foundation slightly lighter than what you usually wear. 2. Apply light eye-shadow all over your eye before applying a dark charcoal cover all over the crease of your eye. Apply a small amount of silver eye-shadow to the inside corner of each eye. 3. Apply liquid liner across the lid, starting from the inner rim and angling out for a half inch beyond your eyelid. Wait for the first coat to dry before reapplying to thicken the line. 4. With a kohl pencil go over the outer edge of your lower rim. Blend with a smudge brush or softly with your ring finger. 5. Apply two coats of thick mascara to create impact eyelashes without the hassle of

applying fake ones. The 90s were all about bright colours so try experimenting with coloured mascara rather than the traditional black. 6. Apply a rosy pink cheek blush to create that ‘English Rose’ effect. 7. Finish the look off with sparkly red lip-gloss, preferably out of a squeezy tube for an authentic 90s experience.

(£2.64 – Superdrug), then blow dry your hair completely. 2. After the hair is completely dry take medium sections of hair from the very top of your head and curl them around LARGE Velcro rollers. The purpose of the rollers is not to curl the hair but to add height to it in a way that will appear softer than backcombing. (Pack of 12 various sized rollers - £1 – Poundland) 3. Softly blow-dry the rollers until the hair around them is warm to the touch.

4. Spray a small amount of hairspray (Garnier Fructis Hairspray Bamboo Crystal Volume - £2.69 – Superdrug) on to the roots of your hair, above the rollers. Do not spray all over. Allow to cool down for approx. 10 minutes depending on hair thickness.

MIGHTY MORPHIN’ sponge and allow to fully dry. 3. Using a narrow piece of POWER RANGERS sponge or a paint brush carefully

rowing up in the 90s we all wanted to be a Power Ranger right? Well here’s a simple and cost effective way of achieving your childhood dream! ‘It's morphing time!’ 1. Choose which Power Ranger you want to be: If you’re going with the original you can choose from black, blue, yellow, pink, red or green. (Face Paint - £2.19 – Sparx) 2. Carefully apply the face paint all over your face using a

outline the shape of your chosen Power Ranger’s visor around your eyes. Each Ranger had a specific shape correspondent to their specific dinosaur ‘zord’.

4. Fill in the shape with black face paint to create a visor image. If you’ve chosen the black Ranger widen the white line to separate the shape from the rest of your face. 5. Finish off by applying white or silver face paint to your lips to finish off your D.I.Y Power Ranger helmet.

5. Unroll the curlers slowly and brush through with fingers or a wide toothed comb. 6. Finish the look off with a quick sweep of bronzer for a California tan, pink lipgloss and a bright eye-shadow for that unpolished 90s look.

KURT COBAIN/ 90S GRUNGER

urt Cobain is a rock icon, but his image is part of a wider iconic look that rose from the streets of Seattle. Much like punk before it, grunge was about rejecting the mainstream images of the time and allowing young men and women to express themselves as they wished. Getting this look is simple and requires few steps. 1. Grunge hair is usually unkept. While it is often see to be long the look can be achieved with short hair. Start off by not washing your hair 24 hours before going out and using a heavy styling wax style your hair, the aim is to create hair that looks untidy. 2. If you can grow some facial

hair in time for your event that’s great, if not consider painting some on. Simply get paint in the hair colouring of your choice and using a damp sponge dip the sponge in the paint and then dab lightly over the area you want to become bearded. Consider adding a second layer in a similar colour to add depth to the look 3. For a true grunge look makeup is not necessary, but for a fancy dress outfit eyeliner and eye-shadow is a must. Begin by applying a dark shadow all over the top of your eyes, to create a subtle look use your index finger to smudge the eye-shadow across the entire length of your eye rather than continually applying colour. 4. Eyeliner can be daunting for first timers! Top trick to applying eyeliner try and apply a

mirror next to a hard surface. Balance your elbow ion the surface for balance and it will be easier to align the pencil to your eye, this will help avoid too many eye – pencil collisions. 5. For a grunge look it doesn’t matter if the line of your eyeliner is messy. For the best look apply a quick line over the top and bottom rim of your eyes before blending again with your index finger. After blending repeat this process twice more before applying one final complete line. This last line should be a tidy one as it will add the final depth to the look. 6. For an extra bit of fun consider using a temporary hair dye or spray in your hair in colours such as blue, red or even pink and be ready to rock out in Reading as well as Cobain ever did.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

WASH OF SHAME?

by SARA WILLIAMS

t’s happened to nearly everyone: you make an extra special effort to make your costume as authentic as possible, only to wake up in the morning with your bed covered in body paint. On top of this you only have a short time to make yourself look half way respectful before your lecture starts. Here are some tips on how to rid your body of the paint. Heavy make-up such as face paint is oil based therefore it resists the traditional washing up mechanisms of soap and water. Oil is even immune to most make-up removers as they are soap based.

PETROLEUM JELLY (VASELINE)

MAYONNAISE!

BABY OIL/ OLIVE OIL/ VEGETABLE OIL

Cheap to buy (£1.85 – 250 ml Boots Own Brand Petroleum Jelly), petroleum jelly is a good option for removing face paint off your face. It’s not filled with chemicals and will therefore not damage any sensitive areas of your skin. To use, keep hair away with a hair band, cover your face with the jelly and slowly wipe away using a face cloth using warm water and circular motions.

Another good way of removing face paint is to use heavy moisture based creams such as Nivea. A cheap and often more on hand version of this is to use mayonnaise. Apply it to you skin and leave for a minute, then simply wipe the mayonnaise and paint right off. Simple!

Oil is actually easily broken down using other types of oil as they attract each other and separate from your skin cells. Using cotton wool and baby oil is a guaranteed way of ridding yourself of any paint residue left on your skin. For an all over body wash apply the oil to a dampened face cloth and rub gently over the skin and rinse. DO NOT pour directly onto skin as this is likely to create slippery surfaces in showers and bathrooms and can be dangerous. Olive or Vegetable Oil can also be used.

SALT/ SUGAR If you find some patches are refusing to budge add some salt into your oil mixture; this will create a natural scrub that will remove the most stubborn of paint stains.

BRING BACK... L’OREAL KIDS

SCRUNCHIES

BODY GLITTER

HAIR SPRINGS

HAIR MASCARA

It was THE product of the 90s. It guaranteed ‘no tears’ and yet your eyes stung worse than most shampoos when you got into them! School swimming lessons were never the same when this product came around, and our parents suffered our endless whinging to get ‘the pink one because it smells much better than my stupid blue one.’ If you feel nostalgic this product is still available to buy in Home Bargains.

Hair scrunchies, the lazy student’s dream. All you had to do was pull your hair up as high as you could and fasten it with these simple fabric mechanisms, the brighter the colour the better. Scrunchies made a return to the catwalks during many Autumn/ Winter shows in London in 2013, most prominently in Vivienne Westwood’s. There easy to get hold of as many styles are available in Claire's Accessories (Price ranges from £2.00 - £4.50 for pack of two)

Body glitter, it was the bee’s knees for all teenage girls growing up in the 90s. Either in a bottle or (my personal favourite) when you had it deodorant style rollon bottle. Unlike sparkle dust of the 21st century body glitter actually applied large chunks of glitter to your body, and often it had a faint perfume to it as well to make you feel that extra grown up. You could finish off the look by applying a liberal spray of glitter spray to your hair and you were all set to disco the afternoon away.

Do you remember hair springs? They were very small springs which were decorated on either end with colours or fake jewellery. I remember going to school one day with a few in my hair, by the end of the week I literally had tens in there, which I ended up discovering at bedtime for days afterwards! It became a playground challenge to see who could fill their head with the most which lead inevitably to extremely painful hair knots and (in more extreme cases) haircuts!

Of all the beauty products I bought as a child this is the one I hold in my heart with too much nostalgia. At the time I thought they were the coolest thing in the world, with just a few (countless) strokes of a mascara brush you could change your hair colour to whatever you wanted. Pink, blue green? Nothing was out of bounds. Looking back I now realise how bad the coverage and colours really were.

Seren | February Issue 2014

ARTS AND CULTURE Nineties Issue special: how prominent are the 90’s in Modern Culture?

Our Arts and Culture Editor, Megan Townsend, discusses the revival of “90’s pop culture” in the modern day. by MEGAN TOWNSEND

n some areas of society, we can see the revival of nineties culture far clearer than others. For example in the fashion industry: Grunge is back, power dressing is back...crop tops and versace, definitely back in fashion. There’s even a revival of cult nineties films and television shows, as the new generation of young adults, born in the 1990’s are bursting into the market as buyers, the market is reacting in kind giving the people exactly what they want, with the revival of 90’s food products like BN’s & Sunny D. (You’ve more than likely already read about all of these earlier in this issue of Seren.) The thing is the essence of the 90’s is making a comeback in our cultural lives as well. “Pop-culture” is the main form the 90’s revival seems to come in. As

the rebellious days of the 1980’s became a thing of the past , and all the anger dissapated from the decades prior, a new mass-commercialism took hold, shaping the society and creating modern phenomenon like celebrity culture & our modern reality TV. In fact culture itself became a consumable product, with a new mass-society as its market. Taking us from individual communities to one massive society all discussing pretty much the same subjects. It pretty much means that the mainstream media and word of mouth are indistuinguishable, and people will discuss events on television in the same way they talk about events going on in their own lives. The rise of pop-culture was perhaps best commentated on during early simpsons episode “Bart vs

Thanksgiving” aired in November 1990. Bart comments on the crass commercialism of the Thanksgiving day parade, as he turns his head away from the television the screen shows a giant inflatable balloon of Bart Simpson floating past. The Simpsons is a great example of a piece of media that alludes to massconsumerism, but is also a vital part of it, with merchanising and advertising by the Simpsons is still prevelant even today. Don’t be mistaken, pop-culture didn’t actually start in the 1990’s, it always existed. We can see this in William Shakespeare, who produced commercially viable plays for cash payouts in order to ensure the biggest audiences every single night. However, during the 1990’s the real anti-goverment, anarchal feel-

ings really seemed to slip away, leaving room for a mass-media, massconsumerist society, made even more possible by technological advances, like cable television, expansion of home video, even the quality of broadcast had a massive impact. Even more than that was the invention of the World Wide Web, with the first website being created in 1991. Though it didn’t have the vast reach it has today, the Internet was still a massive breakthrough in the 1990’s and quickly took hold of users. What this did was take an already inflated global “community” and gave them another avenue to stay together, creating a way to be in contact with anyone on Earth, from this inital movement came everything we really know today. Facebook, i-message, email, Twitter - all from this brand new concept

that would have seemed alien 20 years ago. So if we really think about the effect the 90’s had on our culture and the revival of popular culture, was there any real revival? Or have we simply adapted to the new concepts the 1990’s introduced to us? Is the nineties more evident in our fashion tastes? In TV and the media? Or is it evident in the way it changed us as a society? Check out more thoughts on how the 90’s has changed us at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ microsoftoutlook/12-ways-theworld-has-changed-since-the-90s

How would Scottish Independence affect British Culture? Seren looks into exactly how much the potential break of Scotland from ...........................the UK will change British culture. by MEGAN TOWNSEND

n issue that’s really on everyones minds (or should be) is the possible independence of Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. Its hard to forget that Scotland has been independent before, prior to James I’s ( James IV of Scotland) ascension to the English throne, both England & Scotland were sovereign states, with their own parliments, laws & judiciary. Following the combination of the crowns came a new concept of Britain being a whole na-

tion, like the original Britons. If we fastforward around 500 years we now have the United Kingdom, consisting of England, Wales, Northern Ireland & Scotland (of course you all already know that.) Scotland, under Scottish minister Alex Salmond aim to vote later on this year as to whether or not Scotland should be independent. What many of us are wondering is exactly what would this change entail? This of course is new and exciting. What history it would make if Scotland were to be made independent. For the first time in hundreds

of years The British Isles would no longer be a large expansive nation but instead a varied one. This could surely be good for both countries, generating tourism in order to visit the border between the countries, independence in order to consolodate Great Britain’s debts, making cuts less necessary for both countries. The problems however are distinction. What would new border controls mean? What currency would Scotland now use? Surely without being part of Great Britain, standard currency could not be GBP? In fact,

though we take it for granted, our two nations are incredibly close in distiction: we live on the same tiny island, we have the same businesses, same media. Would that communal feeling with Scotland & the rest of Britain cease to exist following the vote of independence? Would it now be a completely independent nation like Ireland for example, with a completley different community than our own? What would happen to the great British institutions like the BBC?. What people aren’t really considering is the cultural loss that losing

Scotland would really equate to. England and Wales existing in one public realm whilst Scotland exist in a completely separate one. Would we no longer feel what it means to British? Would it even equal to the independence of both England & Wales? Find out more about Scottish Independance 2014 at: http://www.scotreferendum.com/

February Issue 2014 | Seren

ARTS AND CULTURE

What’s going on in Bangor?

Venue Cymru: Scrooge!

ATIONAL treasure Tommy Steele skips across the stage in a manner that belies his age, marking the end of Scrooge. Not only have you enjoyed the perfect antidote to the January blues, but also witnessed a better-late-than never dose of Christmas cheer.

With a grateful audience on their feet and the final strains of the show’s signature tune Thank You Very Much playing, it is left to the 77-year-old veteran rock and roller and musical performer to order them to cease their standing ovation and go home. Scrooge’s arrival at Venue Cymru this week, following its celebrated run at London’s Palladium, is a coup for the region’s theatregoers and a reminder of how good live

musicals can be. Sumptuous sets and costume design are used to their full potential to illustrate Victorian London and the squalor experienced by many of the capital’s residents during the 1800s. Steele’s showmanship and likeability shine through and allow him to portray Scrooge as a man to be pitied and praised in equal measure and cheered on in his spellbinding journey and eleventh hour attempt at changing his miserly ways. Strong support comes in the form of Steve Hansell as downtrodden clerk Bob Cratchit and Barry Howard as Jacob Marley The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present played by Abigail Jaye and James Head respectively and the eerie Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come played

by David Lyndon provide both thought provoking and moving moments. The rest of the cast, slick choreography and a rich score also combine to create an emotionally charged two hours. Read full review here: http://www.northwalespioneer. co.uk/news/129828/review-showbiz-legend-tommy-steele-dazzlesin-scrooge-at-venue-cymru.aspx For more info on Scrooge: https://www.venuecymru.co.uk/ whats-on/Scrooge-2014.html

Coming up...

Hanggai

anggai is a unique cabaret being performed at Hendre Hall on February 8th. Founded by Beijing-based punk rocker Ilchi, Hanggai mix traditional Mongolian throat singing with rock instruments. Hanggai’s gorgeous music has won it many fans all over the world. Their reinterpretations might make liberal use of traditional instruments like the morin khuur (a horse-hair fiddle) and the tobshuur, a local twostringed lute, but Hanggai have made the leap from folk phenomenon to crossover pioneers — without losing their soul. There’s rebellion in the air and fire in the belly reminding us very much of the wild yet poetic art of The Pogues. Built from, and meant for, Mongolia’s wide-open spaces, this music will make you homesick for a place you’ve never been. 9:00pm on the 8th Februrary, Hendre Hall, Talybont ,Tickets available on the door, £12 or £10 with a valid student card.

Don’t Miss...

azz evenings at Teras Lounge in Main Arts! A night of fine food mellow music and smooth wines awaits. Takes place on 28th February at 7:30pm, tickets £8 or £5 with a valid student card.

Bangor Symphony Orchestra

he University Symphony Orchestra is joined by young Czech violinist Kateřina Marešová for a performance of Mendelssohn’s beautiful and exciting Violin Concerto. The programme also includes Beethoven’s magnificent Eroica Symphony, and we celebrate St David’s Day with a rare performance of Grace Williams’s Castell Caernarfon, originally written for the Investiture of HRH the Prince of Wales in 1969. A season ticket ensures your seat at every concert excluding those marked as exceptions. The show will feature Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, ‘Eroica’, Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto & Grace Williams: Castell Caernarfon Student tickets are £3. These are available to buy online, over the phone or in person. These can only be redeemed on the door with an accompanying NUS card. 7:30pm on 1st March 2013, at Prichard Jones Hall, Bangor University.

Seren | February Issue 2014

GAMES GTA Top Seller

ROCKSTAR’S long awaited and highly rated Grand Theft Auto V has topped the sales chart for 2013. The game, to date, has sold 32.5 million copies beating rival games such as The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Ghosts and FIFA 14. It has led its publisher, Take Two, to be the best selling publisher of 2013 too.

Next-Gen War THE FIERCE battle between next generation console rivals, XBox One and Playstation 4 heated up this month. There is certainly no loved lost between the two consoles and this month XBox have taken a blatant cheapshot at their competitors after reportedly offering $100 of instore credit to any gamer who trades in their PS3 and purchases an XBox One. Sony have retaliated with a cheeky graphic suggesting that you could save $100 by just buying their cheaper product, the PS4, rather than an XBox. Who will be next to strike?

WWE 2K15 TAKE-TWO have announced their followup to last year’s WWE 2K14; WWE 2K15. The company bought the rights to the wrestling franchise from THQ, who have been creating the annual game for years, early last year. Whilst it’s still early days it is looking as though the next instalment could be coming to next-generation consoles only. It is expected to be launched in the Fall, as usual, ready in time for Christmas shoppers.

by LJ TAYLOR

e’ve become accustomed to Hollywood churning out remakes of classic movies but in the gaming world we’re not quite as used to it. This month, however, will see the rebirth of the nineties/ noughties game series Thief, a firstperson action game that emphasises stealth. First looks at the game show obvious elements of the popular Assassin’s Creed series and fellow stealth game, 2012’s Dishonored. And so it immediately begs the question of whether this is anything new or just a knockoff version of already popular franchises. Cross the Victorian Era with steampunk and you have the setting for Thief which follows master thief, Gar-

rett’s return to his home city; aptly named The City. With his home now controlled by evil dictator The Baron and the poor battling a deathly plague whilst the rich indulge to their heart’s content Garrett decides to flip things into his favour. The game, which was first announced in 2009 with the working title of Thief 4, has undergone a number of design changes since development began. Eidos Montreal’s team have experimented with aspects such as the player character and their perspective, originally working within a third person world though that idea was apparently, unfortunately, scrapped. After some negative feedback from fans the EXP system initially intended for the game was removed with the reason being that Garrett was already sup-

posedly an experienced thief. Middevelopment it was decided that the reboot would be made for the recently released next gen consoles; the Playstation 4 and XBox One, as well as current-gen and PC. As with a lot of games these days Thief gives the player quite a bit of choice in terms of how they play the game, which direction they take their character. The game does however try and focus on the stealth aspect and even though enemy characters will try to kill Garrett it is expected that you don’t even let them see him. Garrett carries a number of weapons and tools to assist him in his thieving activities. His three primary tools are a blackjack, a claw to grapple within the environment and a compound bow which is not only used to attack enemies but to dis-

tract guards. One example of this would be the water arrow which Garrett uses to put out torches and shroud himself and enemies in darkness. Like most games these days Thief allows its players to upgrade their arsenal through in game purchases. Thief certainly looks like an interesting enough game to play and will likely attract old fans of the cult classic series that came before it, but it looks unlikely to break any new ground or capture the hearts of gamers across the world. Though there’s a good chance it could fill the space between gamers completing Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and the next in that series which will no doubt be released by the end of the year.

set in the 70s and 80s. Indeed, Metal Gear Solid 5 is so huge in its conception that it cannot fit into one game. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is due out either late this year or early next, while its predecessor, Ground Zeroes, is due out in March. A shorter, budget title (priced at around £20), this 70s-set outing will make the agonizing wait for The Phantom Pain a little easier, as well as introducing long-time MGS fans to the overhauled gameplay. In a series that has innovated not only its own genre but the entire industry for two decades, MGS5 is pushing boundaries again – the boundaries of what gamers expect as well as the boundaries of the PS4 and Xbox One. Last year’s trailer for the game and little bits and pieces we’ve seen since have revealed a lot of changes: first and foremost, MGS5 will feature a massive, open-world environment

for characters to sneak (or not, if the whim takes you) around in, with the player able to call on planes, helicopters, motorbikes and other vehicles for transportation. The series has also adopted a stable of modern videogames, regenerating health. The most controversial of these changes, though, has been the replacement of fan-favourite voice actor David Hayter (who portrayed both Solid Snake and his father, Big Boss) with Kiefer Sutherland, who will also be providing motion-capture for the game. Yes, Kiefer Sutherland. You know, Jack Bauer from 24? Rarely are two things so awesome combined into one super extravaganza of awesome, so that alone should be something of a treat. 2004’s MGS3, which covered the origins of Big Boss and was set in the 1960s, brought the series back from its ultra-modern early 2000s

setting. In doing so, it opened up a huge period of in-between time in which new games could be set. Through PSP titles, this time period has been explored. MGS5, however, looks to be examining the downfall of the Big Boss character, closing the proverbial loop and bringing the series’ timeline back to zero; the very first game in the series, Metal Gear, where Big Boss was the antagonist to Solid Snake’s rookie hero. Even putting aside the stunning innovation in gameplay that MGS5 promises (through both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain), the downfall of the beloved hero, Big Boss, has the potential to be one of the most compelling storylines in gaming history. Ground Zeroes is due out in March, while the larger game, The Phantom Pain, is due out early 2015.

X Box Zumba PUBLISHERS of X Box One’s Zumba Fitness game claim that they have helped gamers lose 25 million stone since the game’s release. The game, to date, has sold over 10 million copies.

Flappy Bird A NEW mobile gaming experience seems to have taken off, and over the UK’s smartphones. Flappy Bird, from Gears Studios, is a relatively old game that all of a sudden seems to have become popular. It’s a pretty simple game that only requires the player to tap on the screen and make the bird fly. The game is available on all smartphones and is a free app. Apparently our Editor ran down her phone battery playing it, it’s just that good. Apparently. She got 17 points. Pathetic.

Games @ WGA ONCE again video game writing has been honoured at the annual Writers Guild Awards. This year Neil Druckman, from Naughty Dog, won the video game writing award for the script of popular PS3 exclusive game The Last of Us.

by MATT COX

rom the release of the original Metal Gear over 25 years ago, the Metal Gear series has enthralled gamers worldwide – and once it evolved into 3D form and landed on the original PlayStation in 1998, the series led a new generation gamers through a vast and often confusing universe of twists, turns and lengthy, pontificating cutscenes. 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4, however, represented the end point for the series…or so we thought. After a decent-but-not-great hackand-slash spin-off (Metal Gear Rising), and a reasonably good PSP title (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker), the twisted genius of series creator Hideo Kojima has returned to helm a huge, home-console, next-gen title, starring Big Boss - father of the series’ main character, Solid Snake – to be

February Issue 2014 | Seren

GAMES Croft on PS4 FOLLOWING on from 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot, Crystal Dynamics have re-released the game for the next generation consoles. The updated version of the game, called Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition, was released on 31st January and first week reports put sales figures for the PS4 at 69% against the X Box One.

Walking Dead

by JACK NICOL

raditionally PC gaming has been done at a desktop, on an expensive tower PC, but now Valve is looking to change that. Valve is bringing Steam to your HDTV via a Linux OS. You may wonder why Linux? Simple answer, Microsoft has the Xbox to take care of, why would they allow easily accessible, and cheap games undermine their own dedicated gaming platform. We saw with Windows 8 an integrated app store that sells games. If Windows continue to go this way then Valve need a contingency plan. There are some major stumbling blocks, such as Linux only having a market share of 2.05%. However, there are arguments to be made that due to a lower OS footprint of Linux there may be certain performance increases, more specifically on Steam’s Linux; the kind of things that cannot be repli-

by LJ TAYLOR

s a 90s kid I spent a lot of time at my friend’s and one day I went round and was introduced to perhaps the most influential game of our generation; Pokémon. To be specific: Pokémon Red. A few hours taking turns on the family’s GameBoy and I was hooked. By the time my parents had arrived to collect me, we were stuck trying to defeat the second gym leader, Misty, and my friend let me take the Game Boy home to have another go. Lucky me (though my Mum wasn’t impressed, they had just bought me a PlayStation One as an early birthday present and here I was hooked to a tiny screen full of mythical creatures)! The world of Pokémon was something completely new and it didn’t take long for the whole school to

cated in Windows. The Steam box isn’t a true competitor to Windows or Games console. It is a games console to run Steam games, with its very own controller. But that isn’t all it does. It allows the user to install their very own software, change the hardware and run another OS. It has been described by the company as a co-operating system, mixing the game distributors platform with an interface developed for TVs. It seems unlikely that it will make an impact on the large mainstream market right now, and maybe not even for a few years. Microsoft seem to be moving towards the tablet and phone market, away from tower PCs, the traditional home of Steam. With this decline in the sale of hardware people have claimed that PC gaming is dead; this is a myth. Xbox live has around 47 million active users, Valve 54 million active users. Jules Williams, a Kan-

tar Worpanel analyst, says that the sale of PC games is actually increasing. “Console game shoppers have switched £3 million of their spending to PC.” That’s around a 76% increase in Steam sales. However a majority of these sales will have been in Windows, meaning that a sudden change to Linux would render 90% of your purchased games unplayable. However this is where in-house streaming comes into play, the idea being you run Steam on your big fancy tower that most likely runs Windows, and stream in through a cheaper living room computer. While this seems like a nice idea, the major stumbling block is that streaming is currently not so great. There are major issues with video compression and input lag. The only issue is that PC gaming has meant leaving the comfort of the living room. This is the market that Steam is looking to tap into. It

even comes with a new controller. It’s a rather adventurous piece of equipment. It has a “super-feedback haptic response” with “dual linear actuators” – in other words it has two touchpads either side where you would normally find joysticks. The idea is almost like two touch screens. But there is one important change; there are ridges on each one, giving the user an awareness of where the neutral zone is. It gives feedback that a flat screen cannot. However, the whole control does have rather inconvenient button positioning. Looking at Valve’s track record, you would have to place your trust that it is a good piece of tech. They have built up a reputation as a loveable company that has consistently delivered brilliant products. However the success of the Steam box will be on the user experience and price.

be addicted. One of the best things about Pokémon was how it felt as though it gave you so much choice as a player. You put together your team, you chose which Pokémon to catch and the only thing you really had to do the same as your friends was beat the gym leaders; and obviously the fun with that came from boasting how far you had gotten so far. For us, the children of the 90s, it was all about the original 150 Pokémon (or 151) and it was considered blasphemy when the million more we now started to be released, though I have to admit I was partial to a bit of Pokémon Gold (or Silver) and Sapphire (or Ruby) was alright too. These days parents often complain that their kids don’t leave their video games, and forfeit any social interaction; the Pokémon games however promoted it! I mean, what else were you supposed to do when

you needed to know how to find you way through that Zubat infested cave? Ask your friends of course! And then there was the real innovation of Pokémon; the Game Boy link cable which enabled you to not only battle your friends but to trade Pokémon. Though who are we kidding? The cable was mostly used when we wanted to start a new game but keep our level 100 Charizard who we had grown attached to! If video games had been allowed in school then we would have sat at the back of classes and battled the ubiquitous Pidgeys and spent lunchtime sat in a corner battling our friends. Alas, our video games were saved for hometime, but to ensure our generation wasn’t deprived from our 150 true loves the Pokémon card game was introduced and soon took over the nation’s playgrounds. I don’t think anyone really understood how to properly play the game, with all

those energy cards and nonsense trainer cards. No, Pokémon cards were all about who had the best collection and making up the rules as you went. I once traded a shiny Machamp for a useless Pikachu. What a stupid child. Pokémon still has a special place in my heart. It is one of those things that as a 90s child I look back on fondly and am proud to see still going strong, even if I hate all the new Pokémon. It has truly stood the test of time, spanning many a generation, yet it will always belong to us. No other generation will ever be able to talk of how they sat on the front row just to see the Pokémon movie, no other generation will truly understand the importance of a shiny Charizard and no other generation will experience the same chill down the spine at the sound of that now famous theme tune.

TELLTALE Games have teased the continuation of their Walking Dead video game series. An image was uploaded 3rd February, which suggested that Season 2 Episode would soon be on its way. There is no scheduled release date as yet, however it could be a few weeks at least as Telltale also have the next episode of their other game series, The Wolf Among Us, out this week.

SW Infinity DISNEY has begun development on a followup to their popular and innovative Infinity game. Disney Infinity 2 will reportedly feature characters from both the Marvel and Star Wars Universes.

Watch Dogs MUCH anticipated Ubisoft game Watch Dogs has not been abandoned despite rumours that the company had decided to cancel the title. The original rumours came after Ubisoft reportedly filed an express abandonment on the trademark. A spokesman for the company however has cleared things up stating that Ubisoft never had anything to do with the and they are not working on reinstating the trademark. He stressed that none of this would affect the development of the game which is expected to be shipped out for a 30th April release this year.

XBox Gold IT IS expected that Microsoft will soon announce Games with Gold, a scheme similar to Sony’s Playstation Plus, for their XBox One console. It will allow gamers with an XBox Live Gold account to gain access to free games downloaded online to their console. It is a scheme already running on the XBox 360 and has featured games such as Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2.

Steam Music VALVE have announced the introduction of an integrated music player, Steam Music, which will allow gamers to listen to their own music as they play games. The beta is now open for those who join the Steam community group.

Seren | February Issue 2014

FOOD AND DRINK

Time for a Little Romance in Bangor Too cook or not to cook

Cooking up some Romance By WYATT WARNER

hey say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and guys, that's true for women as well. Everybody loves a good home-cooked meal, so this

Valentine's day, grab your “kiss the cook” apron and impress your date with one of these easy-to-make yet classic date night recipes.

Fettuccine Alfredo Serve that special man or woman a dish as rich as the experiences you've shared and as smooth as your conversational skills. Ingredients: · Pasta. Traditionally fettuccine, but use whatever kind you like—individuality is attractive! All pasta is different so use as much as you think you need for two people. · A quarter of a cup of butter · 300 ml double cream (for a less fatty dish substitute half and half or whole milk) · 1 cup freshly grated hard cheese like Parmesan or Romano · Salt and pepper to taste · Chopped parsley, coriander or chives to taste

Chocolate Mousse Maybe the most quintessential Valentine's Day dish ever. It's rich, luxurious, and best of all, simple to make. (Be aware that this recipe includes raw egg) Ingredients: · 200g dark chocolate · 60g milkchocolate · A quarter of a cup strong coffee · 1 Tbsp. butter · 1.5 Tbsp. rum (optional) · 2 fresh eggs, separated · 100 ml double cream · Whipped cream (optional)

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package and drain. Don't rinse the pasta though, or the sauce won't stick as well. Pour the cream into a saucepan over medium heat and stir in the but-

ter until it's melted. Now stir in the cheese until it's melted and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the pasta and top with the chopped herbs.

Melt the chocolates together over low heat or in the microwave and cool. Add the rum, egg yolks, coffee and butter. Beat one cup of the cream until it can stand up by itself and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Do the same with the egg whites. Be careful not to stir the mixture too much, your goal here is to mix everything while keeping the air in. Divide the mixture between bowls, glasses, or whatever else you're serving it in, and chill in the freezer or fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve, topping with whipped cream if desired.

Eating out this Valentines

by SCOTT WILLEY

or a small city, Bangor has a wide variety of places to eat out, from chains to bistro-cafes and restaurant-bars, so why not take impress that lucky other half of yours and take them out this year? 1815 is an independent café-restaurant near the High Street that has a small menu of fresh and locallysourced meals. The signature dish of 1815 is their tapas, which allows you to pick and choose from a range of different items, including pates, cheeses, patatas bravas, and Spanish meatballs to name a few. Your selections are then served on a platter of fresh salad, fruit, and vegetables and accompanied by warm bread. The tapas is a great meal for sharing, coming in platters for one, two, or three people, each person having three selections. The sharing element adds to the eating out experience, and is a great idea for a Valentine’s Day meal. Fat Cat is a chain of restaurant–bars founded in Bangor by two alumni. In recent times, Fat Cat has been rebranded to become ‘Feral Cat’. Having said this, very few changes have taken place, and the menu is largely the same. Personally I would recommend any of the burgers, which use good quality mince and come with a variety of inventive toppings such as bacon, onion and mushrooms in a cheese sauce. Although at first seeming more expensive than other options locally, Feral Cat offers many

Eating our way back to the 90s

What bettter way to to embrace the 90s than remembering the foods we loved as child, read on as we relish in those e-numbers and neon coloured foods of our childhood? Sunny Delight

A traumatic moment in my childhood was the day they took the drink that’s golden goodness powered me through many a school day, Sunny Delight, off the shelves. The very artificial sunshine yellow drink, rumoured to have turned children yellow due to its chemical cupboard ingredient list was a regular in my lunchbox. I am very happy to have seen in recent years its reemergence on our shopping shelves, hopefully a little less chemical filled, bringing me back to my glowing childhood days.

Salad Faces

I remember growing up my parents were faced with a bit of a challenge trying to get six kids to eat their vegetables. So my mum made a game out of it – she would fill the table with plates of boiled eggs (not a vegetable but I’m not complaining), shredded carrots, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes (yes, it’s a fruit but stick with me on this)… you name the vegetable it was on that table. She would then have us all create a salad face out of the food and we weren’t allowed to make another face until we’d finished eating the first – this was a great and creative way to get us to eat our veg, and soon enough we actually liked it!

Chewits

Well who didn’t like to Chewit Chewit? And if the adverts of a T-Rex roller skating on doubledecker buses weren’t enough to sucker you in, then surely the yummy synthetic fruity taste did! I loved Chewits, I can still hear the jingle ringing in my head ... if only I could be reunited with a packet, my nostalgic childhood vision would be complete!

deals such as Two-For-One cocktails and a two-course set menu for £12.45. The food is well prepared and slightly more adventurous in its menu than other comparable chains. Feral Cat has a sophisticated atmosphere, with its cocktails it can offer that something special for Valentine’s Day in Bangor. However, if you are looking for straightforward food with a more homely feel, then I would suggest taking a romantic walk towards the pier and trying out The Tap and Spile, a pub serving arguably the best pint in Bangor. The Tap and Spile does simple food – but it does it extremely well. A mixed grill will only set you back £5.95, yet it is still quality food with huge portion sizes. Admittedly, this is not fine dining – you order at the bar and collect your own cutlery - but do not turn your nose up at this great pub, voted Best Value in Seren’s Local Business Awards 2013. I have merely scratched the surface of Bangor’s eateries, with other options including the independent Blue Sky Café, Chinese restaurant Noodle One, or the universities very own fine dining Teras Lounge. Bangor has a wealth of options available for any budget, meaning there is somewhere for everyone to eat out and enjoy a brilliant meal this Valentine’s Day. You may already have your favourites, yet there is always more to explore so why not try somewhere new this year to impress.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

FOOD AND DRINK

Did someone say Pancakes?

With Shrove Tuesday just around the corner, aka the day when you have the excuse to stuff yourselves silly with pancakes, Seren is here to give you the definitive guide to help make your Pancake Day ‘flipping’ perfect. So grab your spatulas and start preparing for March 4th. by HARRIET WELLER

N I

Finding Pancakes in Bangor

f you don’t fancy flipping your own pancakes this year then why not check out what North Wales has to offer. This year the elegant Anglesey Estate of Plas Newydd, on March 2nd will be hosting a Pancake Party in its beautiful grounds, offering you the opportunity to decorate, toss and munch on those tasty pancakes to the breath taking backdrop of the Menai Straits.

Tickets are just £5 for the whole day so head to their website to find out more. Fancy something a little more special this year? Then head down to Bangor’s very own Creperie Café, located in Upper Bangor, offering the best and biggest crepes in Bangor, from as little as £2.50. With a huge range of savoury and sweet filings, alongside equally as delectable hot drinks and waffles, this cosy café has something for everyone

this Pancake day. If you want to have a Pancake Day Adventure this year, then why not head to the Dutch Pancake House hidden in the Conwy Water Garden. This hidden gem uses fresh local produce and seasonal ingredients, to create its 65 different pancakes which can be enjoyed every day except Mondays from 11:30am to 5:30pm

‘Crempog’ Recipe

eel like embracing Wales this Pancake Day? Then why not try your hand at making a traditional Welsh pancake, the Crempog? Thicker than the average pancake, this mouth watering delight is served up on special occasions and are cooked on a griddle pan but are simple to make. Ingredients · 275g plain flour · 450 ml warm buttermilk · 2 eggs · 30g of butter melted and cooled · 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda · A pinch of salt (11/2tsp) and drop of vinegar (1tbsp) · 75g of caster sugar Stir the butter into the warmed buttermilk until melted, then pour the milk and butter into the flour and beat well and then leave the mixture to stand for at least 20 minutes Beat the eggs into a separate bowl then add the sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and vinegar into the bowl and stirr thoroughly Pour this mixture into the flour and milk mixture and beat well to form a smooth batter Grease the pan or griddle using butter and heat Drop the batter, a tablespoon at a time onto the heated pan or a griddle and bake over a moderate heat until your pancake looks golden brown on both sides, then keep warm and add your favourite toppings. We recommend the traditional topping,; a thing coat of butter followed by a sprinkling of sugar. Have yourself a very Welsh Pancake day!

That’s Flipping Amazing!

ow time to baffle you, and challenge you as we introduce you to some of our favourite pancake records. Reckon you are a speedy flipper? Then try beating this guy… In 2012, Brad Jolly, an Australian broke the pancake tossing record, making 140 flips in just 60 seconds! Or think you make them big? Then think again, in 1994, the largest pancake was created in Rochdale, Manchester by the Co-operative Union, Ltd, measuring a whopping 15.01

in diameter and 2.5 cm thick and weighing 3 tonnes. I think we might need some more lemon and sugar! Fancy doing something a little different for charity this year, then why not attempt to race this guy? Mike Cuzzacrea in 1999, became the official fastest pancake flipping marathon runner, managing to complete the Casino Niagara International Marathon in a mere 3 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds. Now that takes a whole lot of co-ordination!

Going bananas for gluten-free pancakes By CHARLOTTE FAYE-WRIGHT Don’t despair if you are gluten free as we have the perfect recipe for you that will have you flipping in no time. Ingredients 1 banana 2 eggs Mash bananas up and break eggs in to a bowl, whisk together until frothy. Add 1 teaspoon to a frying pan and add the mixture, flip pancakes once the underneath starts to brown and cook on otherwise. Add honey for a little extra sweetness. Only 250 calories and full of lots of protein and potassium, so what are you waiting for!

Seren | February Issue 2014

TRAVEL

Seren Down Under Moving Abroad... Why?

by JOE KEEP

ver the course of my time studying abroad, I’ve been asked if I’m enjoying myself, as well as other questions, like ‘Why would you even want to do that?’ I think that people find it hard to comprehend the feeling of wanting to move, especially after two years of university and settling in there. That, compared to how people see moving to university. The idea of moving away from home is a scary prospect, something we all have undergone and survived. We all had that checklist, which went something along the lines of: make friends and try to do all those things our parents have done for us until

that point. Add on top the being in a different country and you’d imagine that it was the most stressful event you’ll encounter. I am here to let you know though, that is not the case. The main thing to remember is that there is a huge group of international students who

You’ll meet them in such random ways, such as Fran and I, who met purely through the chance that we have come to the same international university, but a friendship that is stronger than most you will have in life. Then you have those people you’ll meet on your travels (or when

There are also the other international students as I mentioned, who come from every corner of the globe. You’ll find yourself immersed in cultures that you didn’t even expect to find. It may seem like a lot to take in, but, it’s the best and easiest way to do so. Surrounding yourself in the

...you could happily live outside of the UK...throw yourself in at the deep end, survive and come out the other side with a smile on your face and a camera full of memories you will treasure forever. have done the same and are just looking for that friendly face to gravitate towards. Once you have done that, you are basically sorted and have a set of friends you will treasure for life.

you just go on a social night out). They appear as strangers, but, within a handful of days, you’ve already found out everything about each other and are planning the next outing together.

cultural side of a country or of other people makes you, in my opinion, a far more rounded person. Also, by absorbing the culture, you get to explore the whole of a country, going to the far out caves to see what

the indigenous people lived like, and then use the folklore of the culture to see how it has helped to shape the country. Aside from the people, you also discover so much more about yourself. The experience of travelling and being able to fully immerse yourself in a culture, whilst not having to worry about where your next lot of money comes from, is amazing. You’ll find out that, despite what you initially thought, you could happily live outside of the UK, and are fully able to throw yourself in at the deep end and survive and come out the other side with a smile on your face and a camera full of memories you will treasure forever.

Tr a v e l D u r i n g T h e 9 0 ’s

Travel nowadays sees backpackers travelling to far off places for a sense of adventure, the ‘party holiday’ and package trips to places such as Dubai and countries in Africa. But what was it like in the 90’s?

BENIDORM

ONCE Benidorm was a small village, now it is better known for its hotel industry, beaches and skyscrapers. The initial popularity is thanks to the explosive market of the package holiday during the 90’s which largely hit places such as Benidorm and other regions of Spain such as Torremolinos. Benidorm still attracts visitors today and even has its own TV show.

GREECE

STILL popular with visitors today Greece is celebrated for its sun, blue seas and history. However, during the 90’s it was the islands of Greece - such as Rhodes, Kavos, Crete and Corfu - which were flooded too by visitors desperate for a part of the sunshine. Separate from the package holiday, the Greek islands were a chance to experience real culture.

TUNISIA

NOWADAYS people think nothing of travelling to Africa thanks to the rise of safari holidays and interest in African culture. However in the 90’s it was a different situation for most of the continent. Tunisia is on the North coast of Africa just outside of Europe. Tunisia became known for its golden beaches, sunny weather and ‘affordable luxuries.’

FLORIDA

UNBELIEVABLY during the 90’s it was just as good value to take a holiday to America than it was to stay in the UK. (Thanks for that opportunity parents...) Top of everyone’s lists was no surprise... Orlando, Florida. Home of Disney World. Orlando has two nicknames - “The City Beautiful” and “The Theme Park Capital of the World.” Something for everyone.

MAGALUF

MAGALUF, Mallorca is known for its white sandy beaches and notorious Magaluf party strip. Whilst still visited for a ‘party holiday’ in the 90’s, Mallorca itself was another success of the package holiday, visited by families and couples alike not necessarily looking for a chance to party. Unfortunately, the image of Mallorca now has been affected by its nightlife.

February Issue 2014 | Seren

TRAVEL

Study, Work or Travel Abroad With the Help of Bangor University Have you ever wanted to go abroad? Study while sight seeing? Have you ever wanted to spend a year or even just a Summer travelling? What better time to do this than while a student at Bangor University! by LUKE JAMES BARRETT

angor University has a department dedicated to sending students to study or work abroad. There is an array of different Universities from all corners of the earth that, as a student, you have the opportunity to go to! Studying or working abroad as part of your degree is the opportunity of a lifetime. If you have ever wondered about taking a gap year or a trip over the summer and have regretted not doing so, then a study abroad programme would give you the oppor-

tunity to really make the most of your student experience. Why go abroad? Spending time in another country is an opportunity to; enhance your employability, develop skills and experience a classroom setting will never provide. Have fun and travel to amazing places, learn another language, experience new cultures, gain a global perspective on your subject, return more motivated, independent and confident and creative lifelong friendships. What is available? There are many different opportunities and options to ensure there is a programme to suit you.

Athens

Studying a year or semester in a different University; with this option you can travel to a foreign University and the credits you take will be transferred back to Bangor University and will be counted in your overall degree. This is an option you would have to take in your second year and the location has to be compatible with your course. A Plus 1 year; this is the most versatile option; you can travel to any University that Bangor is partnered with and study any subject area you want! The credits you take will not affect the grade of your degree but it will add “with a year in International ex-

perience” to your degree title, showing your adaptability; very sought after by employers! Work for a year; this option is more dependent on you, the University will help you with any problems but you are responsible for finding the work placement. Summer programs; Courses offered during the summer period so as not to interrupt your academic proceedings, this option includes fully funded trips to South Korea, an opportunity that should not be passed by!

Marina Bay - Singapore

Travelling anywhere in Europe makes you eligible for ERASMUS funding, that is to say you can get up to 375 euros per month while studying or working in Europe. Travelling the rest of the world you may be able to claim more funding from student finance. You can make enquiries now for 2015-2016 applications now and all applications must be submitted by October 2014.

You can find more information online at myBangor or you can go to the international exchange office - in Rathbone Building - and ask for one of the exchange officers.

S e ve n We e k s i n Ko r e a A Student Experience

by TOM SHELTON

“C

an I touch your nose?” was an unusual proposition from 24 year-old Jini, but one I certainly couldn’t refuse. Koreans love Western fashion, music, and physical appearance. Indeed, one in 77 South Koreans have had plastic surgery – often to appear more Western. My big Western nose was the centre of attention. Jini’s wails

impressive array of international exchange opportunities. I taught English to Korean university students for three weeks and then took academic and cultural modules. I chose a geography class run by an eccentric Russian professor who sent us out to research the Seoul clubbing scene and Gangnam Style – not your typical module. I also hoped to achieve basic conversational Korean after a beginner’s language class. I can just about gar-

sity organising plenty of excursions. Touring the De-Militarised Zone – the most heavily militarised border on Earth, was brilliant, especially for the illicit photos of North Korea. We also lived as monks at a Buddhist temple, explored ancient World Heritage Sites, and flung mud at the biggest mud festival in the world. Seoul, the sprawling metropolis of 25 million people, is exploding with things to do. Every great city has world famous night clubs, excellent

This experience, along with many more offered by Bangor’s International Education Centre, is not to be missed. Get out there and explore the world, students of Bangor! of surprise and awe as she daintily stroked my well-defined nose were surreal. She couldn’t help but come back for more. This bizarre moment was just one of many experiences I treasure from seven weeks at Dankook University in South Korea during the Summer of 2013. This summer programme is just one of Bangor University’s

ble my way through the alphabet, and order a beer and Korean BBQ. I thought I’d mastered asking for chopsticks; but after seven weeks I’d unwittingly mastered a similar sounding phrase – the Korean equivalent of sticking your middle finger up. Aside from teaching and learning, there was plenty of time to explore Korea, with the host univer-

museums, and brilliant restaurants and drinking holes. Seoul has this in abundance, as well as thousand year old Royal palaces, folk villages, cafés with pet sheep, street dance World championships, “norebangs” – the famous karaoke rooms, and the biggest indoor theme park on Earth.

And for the record: I ate dog. He was a puppy called Rex.

THE SEREN CROSSWORD ACROSS 7. 7,000 year old caveman found to have what colour eyes? (4) 8. Student Cut Film are having a film marathon of which cult director? (9) 10. Key ingredient for banana gluten-free pancakes (6) 11. How many thousands for a coat like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor? (5) 12. Tough girl with a great hat from Recess (8) 13. Main character of The Bell Jar (6) 14. Which early noughties game series is being remade? (5) 16. Teenage Mutant ___ Turtles (5) 17. The money preparing the UK for climate change has been ___ (6)

SUDOKU! MEDIUM

HARD

BEFORE

DOWN 1. What Spice can you dress up as with the help of our Beauty pages? (6) 2. The best shiny Pokemon card you could possibly get (9) 3. Genetically modified tomatoes have turned ___ (6) 4. New student halls, St. ___ (5) 5. Robert Metcalfe invented which cable vital for nineties interent connection (8) 6. Seven students went to South ___ to teach English over the summer (5) 9. ___ anniversary for the Geographical Society (5) 10. New river dolphin discovered by a University in which country? (6) 15. The first Harry Potter book was published in 199_? (5)

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Look at the ‘identical’ photos AFTER can you find the six differences?

February Issue 2014 | Seren

SPORT

90s Sport - The Five Nations What happened then? HERE is a list of the memorable football occasions throughout the decade of the 90s in preparation of Seren’s upcoming 90s night!

1992

THIS was the year for the 1992 UEFA European Championships, taking place in Sweden. It boiled down to a final between the countries of Denmark and Germany. The champions ended up being Denmark who defeated the Germans in a well fought 2-0 victory with Jensen and Vilfort scoring the decisive goals.

1994

1994 saw in the FIFA World Cup. Hosted by the USA, it proved to be an interesting tournament. It came down to a final between Brazil and Italy. In what was a tight and intense affair, it finished 0-0 and ended up going to extra time. With no firther goals scored, it finished with Brazil winning 3-2 on the dreaded penalty shootout.

1996

1996 saw the second UEFA European Championships of the decade. Hosted this time by England. England were knocked out by Germany in the semi-finals, and ended up with a final between the Czech Republic and Germany at Wembley Stadium. It finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and Germany went on to win it through the old golden goal.

1998

1998 was the year the France hosted the FIFA World Cup. After an enthralling tournament, Brazil once again made the final. this time they were to face France. However, they fell short again and lost 3-0 to the French.

A look back a few years to our favourite decade - the 90s! England and France dominate the Five Nations during the 90s by KEVIN GRIFFIN

s this is the last issue of Seren before 90s night, I have decided my contribution to be about the Five Nations, a rugby union tournament in the 90s, which became the Six Nations in 1999. It ran from 1940 until 1999 and became six when Italy joined the competition. There was a time in the years of 1910 to 1931 where the Five Nations ran but it changed to the Home Nations after France dropped out. Although the competition was introduced in 1940, the first time it was played was in 1947 because of the Second World War. England and Wales were crowned champions that year when they drew on points, points difference not existing back then. Wales won the competition eighteen times with five of those wins including a Grand Slam (achieved when a particular country win all of their matches throughout the compe-

tition). England won the competition thirteen times with five Grand Slams. Ireland won it eight times with one Grand Slam being achieved. Scotland won the competition six times with two of those including a Grand Slam. Finally, France won the Five Nations nineteen times with six of those wins including a Grand Slam. To be specific to the 90s, England and France were particularly dominant throughout the decade sharing seven title wins between them, England having four and France winning three. Wales won it once, Scotland won it twice and Ireland not at all during this decade. Some of the biggest names in Rugby Union played at this time. Jonathan Humphreys, playing in the hooker position, among many others, captained the Welsh side between the years of 1995 – 2003. During his time as captain, he played nineteen, won six times and lost thirteen. Between the years of 1991 and 1995, Ieuan C. Evans captained the side 28 times,

winning thirteen and losing fifteen. He led the Welsh side to their only Five Nations win during the 90s in 1994. On to the England side, having enjoyed a very successful decade in the 90s, a huge name for England in the late 80s and majority of the 90s was Will Carling, a centre who captained the national side on many occasions. He won 72 caps for the national side. Of these 72 starts, he took part in a side responsible for 53 victories, 18 losses and one draw. He was in the side who won all four of their Five Nations titles in the 90s. For Ireland, who had a woeful decade, although there are no stand out captains during this time, the most well-known has to be Keith Wood, who now works as a freelance journalist for the BBC and covers the Six Nations as the Irish pundit. He made 58 appearances for the Irish national side scoring 75 points while playing in the hooker position. Scotland, who enjoyed a respect-

able decade with two Five Nations victories, have had a few great players, most notably David Sole. Sole played for Scotland between the years of 1986 until 1992. He captained them to their 1990 Five Nations title. Throughout his international career, he made 44 appearances, winning 22, losing 20 and drawing 2 of those matches. Onto the final Five Nations team, France. France have always been praised as a great side. Of all the players to play for France in this time, I have chosen Fabien Pelous to be one of the French’s most outstanding players. Having made his debut in 1995 and retiring in 2007, he made 118 appearances for France at either lock or number 8. Out of these 118 appearances, he partook in 79 wins, 38 losses and a draw. So that sums up my look at 90s Rugby Union’s Five Nations competition. Leave comments on the website your favourite or best rugby player of the 90s!

Seren | February Issue 2014

SPORT

Superbowl Inspires Bangor Muddogs

Dance prepare for Edinburgh Xmas Show Success by KEVIN GRIFFIN

ust before the Christmas holidays, Bangor University’s Dance society held their winter show in JP theatre. They organised two shows in one day for the 15th December. An afternoon one that started at 1pm and an evening show that commenced at 6pm, both running for three hours each. The show was split into two halves. In the first half, it consisted of Beginners Tap, Burlesque, Advanced Ballet, Beginners Jazz, Bollywood, Irish, Beginners Latin & Ballroom, Advanced Street and Flashmob. The second half included Beginners Ballet, Advanced Latin & Ballroom, Belly, Contemporary, Advanced Tap, Flavas, Advanced Jazz and Beginners Street before finishing off with a well don Finale featuring every dancer. A message from BU Dance Captain Hannah Smithson read: “BU Dance has had an absolutely fantastic start to the year. We’ve taken part in some great events and raised money for both Hope House and Children in Need along the way. I’d like to thank Student Cut Films and Stage Crew for making today (Sunday 15th December 2013) possible, along with the photographers, but especially a HUGE thank you to every single one of the dancers for all their hard work and commitment they’ve put into making this an amazing show!” To go on with a great year for the Dance society, they have a competition to go to! Travelling to Edinburgh on the 8th February 2014, 78 dancers will compete for Bangor University in the Edinburgh Uni Modern Dance Society’s Dance Off. They will compete against thirteen other universities including Imperial College London and the University of Durham. All in all, there is predicted to be around 500 competitors in a three day competition. I speak for everyone at Bangor University when I say good luck to the Dance society!

Did you know?

IF YOU’RE a fan of running, then there’s a 10k race (6.2 miles) on The Great Orme this Sunday! It costs £15 to sign up and you can enter on the day. You can sign up for the race at this link: http://nwrrc.co.uk/nickbeer-10km-event.html

Bangor Muddogs look forward to a successful end to the season by KEVIN GRIFFIN

unday 2nd February brought about a date held in most Americans’ calendars. The Super Bowl had come round once again and the pubs were open until the early hours! The Super Bowl this year was between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. If there was phrase or word to describe this match it would be a “complete blowout”. The Super Bowl is what American Football fans live for and to have such a bad performance by the Denver Broncos put a dent in the occasion. It was devastating to many looking forward to a thrilling occasion, especially the Broncos fans. The game finished a massive 43-8 to

the Seahawks. In Bangor, the Super Bowl means one thing to those who pay no attention to the sport in general: pubs are open very late! Local pubs such as Yellow and Varsity, who were showing the Super Bowl, were open until five o’clock in the morning! However, the number of Erasmus students at Bangor University meant that the pubs had good crowds. As a university, we have our very own American Football team – the Bangor Muddogs. As the American Football team, it was their duty to go to Yellow and enjoy the Super Bowl. I got into contact with the club’s treasurer, Robert Chambers, about their plans for the Super Bowl as well as their season for the University.

Robert has described the Muddogs’ season as a fairly mixed one. The team has done well to grind in some top performances against a superior opposition, including a very unlucky defeat at the hands of the league leaders. The team is mostly made up with some players coming in with very little, if not no, experience playing the sport. This has resulted in some ‘rookie mistakes’ being made by some of the more inexperienced players. Despite these weaknesses, the team remain optimistic for the second half of the season, with the younger players learning from mistakes made in the first half of the season. During the course of the first half of the season, the team came up against really tough opposition who exploited

some of the players’ inexperience. Despite this, the team seem to be in a good place and are seeking to finish the season on a high and rightly so! The team have, as Robert Chambers puts it, three very winnable games left and to top it all off, a cup derby match against none other than Aberystwyth University. The team are said to be feeling confident about the upcoming cup game and will do all they can to get a win over our rival team. The team are always looking for people to play, even if they have absolutely no experience in the sport. It does not matter who you are or where you come from, as long as you show commitment and a will for the club to do well.

Squash win Local Championship

by ANDY WELLS

hristmas came early for the Bangor University Squash Club (BUSC) as the first team sealed the squash club’s first ever local league championship with an allimportant 4-1 victory over Bethesda 1 on 19th December. The match was won with a mighty effort from David Parry, Shaun Sullivan, Rhys Parry, James Killingbeck and Steve Newstead. Rhys Parry, first team captain, comments: “I cannot take much of the credit as this would’ve never happened with such a committed and strong team. All I can say is that we have a lot to live up to in the next season!” The club captain, Shaun Sullivan, adds: “It’s a great delight to have been part

of the team that achieved this fantastic feat for the club and a huge thank you must go to all who played and to all

who supported us.” The Eryri League, which is competed for by teams across Gwynedd and An-

glesey, was closely fought at the top and the first team did well to see off some strong opposition. They eventually finished the winter season with just two defeats from the twelve games played. The spring season will welcome the promotion of Bangor Vets from Eryri League 2 for what could be a heated derby with the students. Commiserations go to the relegated Llewod Llangefni who finished the season without a win and will now face Bangor University 2 in the second division. Credit is also due to Ed Clarke, Lauren Casling, Andy Wells and Ryan Bedwell who played their part during the course of the season. Congratulations BUSC and best of luck for the spring season!

February Issue 2014 | Seren

SPORT

Swim for Charity

100% Pass Rate for Jitsu Club

Jitsu club pass grading with flying colours as familiar faces visit by FELICITY WALKER

n late September, the Bangor Jitsu club welcomed in the new academic year and it is safe to say that the semester did not disappoint. Full of plans fresh from their summer activities, the club set about preparing for Serendipity and welcoming their new members, eager to see what the club was all about. The club’s stall had a fantastic amount of interest, with record numbers of sign ups that didn’t just translate to massive numbers on the mats for the taster sessions, but a huge increase in numbers all semester long. In October, the club attended their first regional for the 2013/2014 year with incredible attendance numbers, both from the Bangor club and the rest of the North West region. The event was a huge success and gave the new members a brilliant first taste of

inter club training, as well as a hint to what was to come at the Atemi Nationals in November. The first of the TJF nationals for the academic year, the event is always one of the most eagerly anticipated by the club and this year was no exception. The club again improved on their numbers from last year, taking nearly 20 people to the event and many of the clubs Jitsuka got through to the semi finals and finals for their categories. The event also presented the opportunity for club members who attended the summer International to catch up with the Jitsuka from other clubs around the UK they had met there. The return from the nationals signalled the start of the truly serious training for the club, as the December grading began to approach. The December grading is the first grading eligible novices can take, making it a fairly nerve-wracking time. This year the grading was scheduled weeks ear-

lier than usual, which really put the pressure on for the club members, especially the novices. A quick visit from some of the club’s old boys, Lewis Fisher and Craig Smoothy, gave the new club members some invaluable pregrading training opportunities and the older club members a welcome blast from the past. Under the driven leadership of Sensei Gabriella Rossetti, the club members who could make the grading certainly lived up to the Bangor Club reputation. After weeks and weeks of hard work and determination, the club attended the grading and came back with a 100% pass rate. The club would therefore like to congratulate the following people: Martin Ayre, Kennedy Bowers, James Killingbeck, Patrick Chan, Tate Jack, Sami Carroll, Roberta Græ Excell, Ludger Hartley and Sabine Hildebrandt, who all achieved their yellow belts. Farzad Abdollahzadeh and Bradley Critch-

low, who achieved their orange belts. Joseph Giles and Felicity Walker, who achieved their green belts and Joe Dalzell who was awarded his light blue belt, making him the club’s new highest grade under Sensei. Joe Dalzell did not only pass his light blue grading, but was also awarded the honour of ‘Top of the mat’. A special award given to the Jitsuka, who displayed the best attitude, mat presence and level of technique during the grading, Joe was unanimously chosen. The club spent the evening at the regions first post grading celebrations, hosted by the Preston club. The club is now looking forward to the challenges that the new semester and new year of 2014 brings, beginning first with some strict fitness training after their well deserved Christmas rest.

FeBRAry Fundraisers by KEVIN GRIFFIN

s part of raising money for FeBRAry, many Athletic Union Clubs are hosting fundraising matches. The main purpose is to raise awareness for breast cancer and raise money for Breast Cancer Care.

The netball society are hosting their own fundraiser in the form of a netballing tournament in Maes Glas. It cost £2 for each person to enter and there will be cakes on sale! They are encouraging people to make teams of no less than seven people per team, a maximum of two netballers is allowed. So no matter how much experience you have with the sport, you

are encouraged to go down and support a great cause! As well as netball, the Rugby Union and Rugby League men’s teams are also hosting a charity match for the same cause. Both Rugby teams are pitting the freshers against the senior members of the squads. The freshers must wear a pink bra, pink shorts and pink socks, where the seniors must

compete in a black bra, black shorts and black socks. In what will be a no doubt hilarious occasion, they will head down to the netball fundraiser after the match. The game will take place at the Treborth fields. Both events can be found on Facebook and will take place on Sunday 23rd February 2014.

Amy’s aim: £300

t’s come that time of year once again. Last year we had Comic Relief, which to be honest was always my favourite, but this year it is Sport Relief (they alternate every other year). I’m not generally a sporty person. In high school, physical education terrified me. I do play some sport, like lacrosse here in Bangor, but I have never done anything like this before. On the 22nd March this year I will be taking part in the Sport Relief Swimathon at Bangor Swimming Pool to raise money for so many amazing charities both in this country and abroad. These include: Age Concern and Tros Gynnal, which supports young people with mental health problems as well as various crime charities and projects for young people. When signing up for the Sport Relief Games you get the choice of three events; swimming, cycling or running. My personal goal is to complete a 2.5k Swimathon, which is one hundred lengths of Bangor’s swimming pool, you can opt to do more or less. I am now in training for what is probably going to be the worst day of my life, but I am strangely looking forward to it. My inspiration was the motivation to get fit and healthy whilst raising money for an amazing cause. My target is to raise £300 for Sport Relief and I am currently on £191. If you would like to sponsor me you can go to my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/amyblackwell or if you would like to get inolved yourself just go to sportrelied.com and sign up!

Venue is Bar Uno Doors open 7.30pm

n Tuesday 11th February, the Gaelic ladies football club will be hosting a very unique type of fundraiser in the form of Blind Date! If you are familiar with the old game show, one person questions three others and decides on who to take out for a date. For just £2 per person, anyone can take part in this fundraiser as all proceeds go towards Breakthrough Breast Cancer. It will take place in Bar Uno, as it has done successfully for the past two years. It is a night full of surprises and, who knows, you could end up meeting the woman or man of your dreams! Contestants will ask questions to three blind dates, one of these three will be picked and they get to go on a date with them in the ‘Love shack’! To participate, e-mail psuead@bangor.ac.uk.

SPORT Bangor crash out of cup Success for Squash! page 46

to Airbus

0-1 Field 25’, 79’

Main: Bangor miss a chance to equalise Inset: Idzi bids farewell to City Photos by LJ Taylor

Date: Friday 18th September 2013 Venue: Nantporth, The Book People Stadium

Bangor miss chance to advance in Welsh Cup by LJ TAYLOR

angor City’s cup hopes were dampened this week when they crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Airbus. It was an energetic crowd that turned up to Nantporth on a wet and dreary Tuesday evening but their Bangor team were a long way from the unrelenting side that battled to hold on to an all important draw at Aber last month. The match began slowly, with City playing in red as Airbus’ away kit would have clashed with the referee, and play was messy with a series of

Bangor throw ins down the left wing. It only took a matter of minutes for things to heat up though with Airbus dominating possession and coming extremely close to scoring in the fifth minute. Everything became scrambled in the Bangor box and the ball was cleared to Les Davies who seemed to be grabbed and pulled back by an Airbus player. A chorus of boos and angry City fans took over Nantporth. The homeside rarely looked close to taking control of the game and a slip up from Declan Walker led to Airbus’ Tom Field netting the ball just before the 30 minute mark. City tried to hit back in the next few minutes but the shots were poor and had very little

Idzi bows out of Bangor for final time

chance of beating Airbus’ Coates. The visitors continued to dominate possession and Bangor were lucky to remain just 1-0 down. After the break Nev Powell brought on striker Jay Colbeck, just signed on loan from Wrexham, in hopes of bolstering his team’s attack. In fairness Bangor felt a little more energetic in the opening of the second half with Les Davies and Damian Allen leading attacks down the right wing but to no avail. Everytime City managed to get hold of the ball they struggled to keep it and shots were taken in desperation from all the wrong angles. With ten minutes to go City’s de-

fence started to tire and Field was able to give Airbus the winning goal; 2-0. Jamie McDaid was brought on for the homeside in the hope that he could replicate his performance that gave Bangor the win at Airbus last year. The young player managed to give the Citizens their best chance in the game but couldn’t quite take advantage. It was a disappointing result for Bangor but a deserved win for the Wingmakers. The match marked Lee Idzi’s final outing as Bangor’s number 1. The goalkeeper and the club have agreed to part ways due to personal circumstances which could have a lot to do

with his long commute up from Cardiff for every match. Whilst it wasn’t the result Idzi was hoping for on his final appearance he was subjected to a round of applause from the fans who thanked him for his service to the club. Unlucky for Lee his defence didn’t seem to be there for him when he needed them but overall he put in a pretty decent performance for his last. Bangor have managed to sign Nantwich keeper Jack Cudworth, just before the transfer window closed ready to replace Idzi.